


The Viper & The Devil

by speedyvibraniumdevil



Series: Matt Murdock/Daredevil [4]
Category: Marvel, The Defenders, daredevil - Fandom, matt murdock - Fandom
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Blood, F/M, Guns, Knives, Latina!reader, Mexican!Reader, NSFW, Possible smut, Smut, Violence, Weapons, Wounds, catcalling, cursing, poc!reader - Freeform, vigilante!reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 21:55:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15374184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speedyvibraniumdevil/pseuds/speedyvibraniumdevil
Summary: You first lay eyes on Matt Murdock when he walks into your family’s bakery. Little do you know that you both share a certain vigilante lifestyle in the night. Him, the “Daredevil” and you, “The Viper”. You try your best to stay out of the devil’s hair, but the city is only so big. What happens when you start dating and you both lie to keep your identities hidden from each other? Or when one of you starts to catch on to what’s really going on?





	1. The Baker's Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> Translations for Spanish phrases used are in the notes at the end

It was 6pm on a Thursday afternoon, and Foggy had suggested that they all go out for some donuts. Being that they were tired from working on a case and needed a break, Matt and Karen didn’t oppose. They walked down the sidewalk in the middle of Hell’s Kitchen, talking about which donut was better: Cake donuts or raised donuts. Foggy was arguing his case about cake donuts when Karen stopped and interrupted his speech.

“Hey, isn’t that Mrs. Y/L/N’s bakery?” she pointed across the street and the two lawyers stopped in their tracks. Foggy turned to take a look.

There was a small storefront underneath a building of red brick and through it’s glass windows you could see racks of bread and cakes on display. Matt could smell the sweet mixture of sugar, vanilla, chocolate, and bread from the other side of the street.

Foggy tried reading the name, but failed, “Pan-pananderia de rreyes?”

Matt laughed through his nose and corrected him, “Panaderia de Reyes.”

The name rang a bell.

Their last case involved a woman and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Y/L/N. They had put a deposit down on a place to open up their family bakery. However one day, the seller decided to give it to someone else even when the family was the middle of moving in and starting their business. They didn’t even want to give the deposit back. Some big, obscure company with a lot of money wanted to use it for something else or demolish it. It was never completely sure, but Nelson & Murdock did everything to defend the Y/L/N’s and in the end they won the case. They had been so grateful and invited them to come to their bakery once they opened, with promise of “free Mexican pastries for life”.

“Yeah, that’s their bakery alright,” Matt said with a smile.

“Well, do you guys want to stop by and check it out? Say hi?” Karen suggested.

“Do you think they have donuts?” Foggy asked.

“I don’t think donuts are a Mexican pastry, but I’m sure they have something just as good,” Matt said.

Foggy shrugged, “Let’s go say hi to the Y/L/Ns, then.”

* * *

 

It was the middle of the evening and your family’s bakery was currently devoid of customers. But you knew that it wouldn’t be long before they started rolling in once again. People usually liked to stop by for some dessert after their dinner.

You could hear sounds coming from the kitchen in the back. Your mom and dad were no doubt finishing the last few trays of pastries of the day. There was also the humming of the fridge and the buzzing sound of the red neon “OPEN” sign at window. But you payed more attention to the sound of Selena Quintanilla’s “Como La Flor” playing softly on the speakers.

You swayed and sang along as you rearranged the new batch of cream filled cuernitos, one by one from the tray into the display case at the front of the bakery. They were a pastries shaped a lot like croissants, but were more like danishes. When you put the last one in, and they were all neatly in a row, you closed the case and put the empty pan in the tall rack on wheels.

As you dusted off your hands, you heard the familiar sound of the door opening and the rushing of wind, indicative of a customer coming in. You straightened up and looked out beyond the counter. They were new customers, three people you hadn’t seen before. Two men and woman all dressed professionally. The woman had long strawberry blonde hair. One of the men was a red head with hair to his shoulders and the other, you noticed, had brown hair, red glasses, and a walking stick.

You smiled at them, “Hi. How can I help you?”

The woman, who had strawberry blonde hair and a very sweet face walked up to the counter and spoke.

“This is Yadira Y/L/N’s bakery right?”

You were surprised by the question. “Yes, that’s my mom. Why are you asking?”

You eyed the three of them now, dressed in suits and wondered why they were asking about your family. Was it those stupid rich people that tried to take away their bakery again? You couldn’t help but feel a little defensive.

The man with the glasses stepped closer this time. He had scruff peppering his jaw and a smile that sent your heart aflutter. You noticed that he was very attractive now that he was closer, and when he spoke he was very calming.

“Your parents were our clients a while back. We helped them out with the bakery.”

Your shoulders relaxed and a smile spread across your face. The nerves were replaced by gratitude. So these were those wonderful lawyers that your mom had been raving about when they won the case.

“Oh!” you exclaimed, “Welcome! Sorry if I seemed a little weird. The last time people in suits passed through here, it turned into a lawsuit.”

The brunette leaned against his walking stick and smiled, “I promise you that we don’t intend on starting anything like that.”

You grinned at him and glanced at the others, “Well that’s good news.”

He held out his hand to you and introduced himself, “I’m Matt. Matt Murdock.”

You took his hand and gave it a nice shake. “I’m Y/N.”

The other two introduced themselves. The woman was named Karen Paige, she was their secretary. The red headed man with long hair was Foggy Nelson.

“So, Yadira and Ricardo are your parents?” Foggy asked.

You nodded, “Yeah.”

“Are they here by any chance?” Karen asked.

You held up a finger and said, “Hold on just a sec.”

You stepped into the kitchen and called out to your parents that they had visitors. You knew for a fact that your mom would be angry with you if you didn’t tell her about it.

“Tus abogados estan aqui.”

(You didn’t hear this but Foggy whispered to Matt and said, “She called us avocados!” To which Matt just laughed.)

Your mom’s face brightened up and she immediately stopped what she was doing. When you went back to the front of the store, she was fixing herself up to look more “presentable” and you could hear her calling for your dad. You smiled at the other three and soon enough your parents came out behind you. Your mom had taken off her apron, whereas your dad still had his on with splotches of flour.

“Hola, Mateo, Foggy, Karen! Que gusto verlos otra vez!” You mom exclaimed.

“Como estan?” Your dad chimed in.

It made you laugh internally how she translated Matt’s name from Matt to “Mateo”. She often did this with a lot of people’s names that weren’t in Spanish.

“Estamos muy bien, y ustedes?” Karen beamed with a thick accent to her Spanish.

“Muy, muy bien. We’re very happy now that we can run our business in peace,” your dad said.

“It was our pleasure, Mr and Mrs. Y/L/N,” it was Foggy that spoke up this time.

“And now you’ve come to try our pan dulce, yes?” your mom perked up, “Y eso que se tardaron en venir.”

You snorted and Matt chuckled. She had basically said,  _It took you guys long enough to stop by._

“La vida de un abogado es una vida muy ocupada, señora Y/L/N.”

_The life of a lawyer is a very busy life._

You were surprised by the fact that he knew Spanish and that his accent was fairly good. You’ve heard many men speak Spanish but there was something about an attractive man that unexpectedly started doing it that stirred something in you.

Your mom nodded, “Yes, I know.”

She then turned to you and told you to serve them any bread that they wanted.

“Free of charge,” she said.

They started to protest, but your mom insisted. Your parents marched back into the kitchen and let you handle the business of attending them. You smiled at each of them a little awkwardly before finally asking them what they wanted.

“So…how can I help you?”

Foggy didn’t take long to speak first, “Do you guys have donuts?”

You giggled and shook your head, “Nope. That’s down the street. But we do have other tasty things that you can try.”

“Anything you can suggest to three white people who have no clue what to get?”

You all laughed.

“That’s what I’m here for, right?” you answered, eyeing Matt who was smiling in your direction.

The entire time that you were helping him you couldn’t help but throw glances at him. You knew that he couldn’t see you, so maybe that’s why you didn’t feel embarrassed to do so. Was there a way he could tell? You doubted it.

You pointed out and described the different pan dulce and cookies to them. The bakery even sold gelatinas (jello) and flan. However, the three of them settled on some conchas.

“Always a good choice and my favorite,” you commented.

You packed three conchas into a white paper bag, two brown and one white, and pushed it on the counter towards them. Foggy grabbed the bag and thanked you. When Matt tried to pay you, you stopped him.

“Free of charge and if I let you pay I’ll never hear the last of it from my mom.”

“Thanks, Y/N,” Matt said.

You shrugged, “You guys are welcome back any time.”

 _Especially you, Mr. Murdock,_ you thought to yourself.

They headed out of the bakery and your mom came out in time to say goodbye. You stared after them as they crossed the street and continued walking until they were out of view.

“Esta guapo, no?” your mom asked.

You looked over at her and furrowed your brow, “Quien?”

“Mateo,” she elongated the last vowel and said it as if it was obvious.

You shook your head and chuckled. 

“What? He’s a lawyer. Men like that don’t stay single forever,” she added.

You rolled your eyes but smiled in amusement, “Ayy ma.”

She always liked to point out different men that you could possibly date. Most of the time they weren’t even your type which is why you never paid attention to your mom’s suggestions. You had standards of your own. “Picky” as people would call it and it’s the reason why you haven’t been married yet (according to your mother and the few friends you used to have that are now popping out babies). But you had your hands full with one too many jobs and a career on your mind.

Although, you weren’t going to lie, you did feel some kind of attraction to Matt Murdock. But, you doubted that you’d ever see him again, and if you did he’d probably have some girlfriend by now and it wouldn’t surprise you if it ended up being Karen. It was just one of those fleeting moments where you saw a hot guy in passing only to admire but never to see him again.

* * *

 

“She was cute,” Foggy commented as he took out his concha from the bag.

“Who? Mrs. Y/L/N?” Karen asked teasingly.

“No, Karen. I meant Y/N. She kept looking at Matt, though, which doesn’t surprise me. Not that he could tell.”

Matt smirked. The fact of the matter was that he could definitely tell when you were looking at him. Your pulse quickened the second he had started talking to you and he found it kind of adorable. It was even more amusing when he spoke Spanish and it attracted you to him even more.

“You’re a lady killer, my friend,” Foggy added.

Matt chuckled, “Maybe if you had taken that Spanish class with me in law school, then you’d have a better chance.”

“And we’re still bringing that shit up I see. I fucked up, I know.”

He took a bite of his concha and then moaned in surprise.

“This is so good!” he exclaimed.

Matt and Karen laughed. The latter took the bag from Foggy and distributed the other two pastries. When they took a bite, they each let out the same noise that Foggy had. They had made a good decision in going into the bakery.

* * *

 

When the evening turned into night at Nelson & Murdock, there were filed strewn all over Matt’s desk. His eyes were tired and his glasses had long since come off. Foggy had left five minutes ago and Karen had left before then, so Matt was by himself.

One thing was for certain: It was time to go home. And by “go home” he meant, go home to get ready for his “shift” at his other place of employment. Hell’s Kitchen itself.

He grabbed his things, went to his apartment, and changed into the red suit he had become so familiar with.

***

On the other side of town, you walked home at the end of your shift at the bakery with a bag of pan dulce to restock your pantry (as if you didn’t already eat enough). You had stayed late to clean up and help close up shop, as you usually did (this also included a non stop conversations with your parents about your relatives). You were tired, but not as tired as you should have been. You didn’t exactly have the healthiest sleep schedule, so your body and mind started to rev back up at around 11pm. Which was 30 minutes from now.

There was a whistle as you passed by a liquor store. Some random slob had probably noticed you, because a second later he yelled in a very white accent, “Nice ass, senorita.”

Your gut instinct was to say something or turn around and punch the guy in the face, but you knew better. Instead, you just rolled your eyes and bounded down the street and turned the corner until you reached your place. The second you got up the elevator, into your apartment, and shut the door, you breathed a heavy sigh.

You set the white bag of pan dulce on the counter and poured yourself a glass of cheap wine.

Your day was done. Finally.

When finished with your drink, and you washed the glass you had used, you smiled to yourself. A new energy took over.

Your day was done….so let the night begin.

You stripped off your shoes, your jacket, jeans, and basically everything else but your underwear. You went into your bedroom and reached underneath the bed for the black suitcase that you always kept there. You lifted it up and placed it on the bed to zip it open.

Inside were various black and dark green leather pieces, a black corset, boots,  four throwing knives, a retractable baton, a mask, and a black wig. You put them all on. Fastened the leather garter belt and slipped the knives into the sheaths and the baton it’s small holster. You zipped up your boots and put the extra knives into the sheaths within. You put your hair up into a wig cap and slid on the short black lace-front wig with bangs. It fit like a glove.

You gave yourself a once over in the mirror and admired how good you looked in it all. You didn’t look at all like yourself, which was the point. You threw on the black mask and leather gloves. Before heading out, you grabbed the final touch from the bottom of the suitcase.

It was a small black box, much like a sunglasses case, with a matte surface. You opened it up and took what was inside. It was a black knuckle set that you could slip your fingers through with two spikes that were spaced apart. You put both of them in your jacket pockets for easy access.

You stepped over to your window, pushed it open and let the cold air in. You were going outside yet again, but this time you were someone else. You took a deep breath before throwing your legs over the window sill and jumping down onto the fire escape below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> Panaderia de Reyes = King’s Bakery
> 
> “Tus abogados estan aqui” = “Your lawyers are here.”
> 
> “Que gusto verlos otra vez!” = “What joy to see you all again!”
> 
> “Como estan?” = “How are you?”
> 
> “Estamos muy bien, y ustedes?” = “We’re very good, what about you guys?”
> 
> “Esta guapo, no?” = “He’s handsome, no?”
> 
> “Quien?” = “Who?”


	2. La Vibora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you get to know the reader and Matt makes another appearance at the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's mentions of crime, rape, & murder (but no vivid descriptions).
> 
> Translations in the end notes!

It was morning once again. Soreness had quickly settled into your muscles, especially in the few places where you had managed to take a hit. There was nothing major this time. Not large cuts or wounds of any kind. Just annoying bruises that patterned your skin from last night and nights before. Whenever there were any visible ones, concealer usually did the trick, which is what you were using at this very moment. **  
**

You stood over the sink in your bathroom, in front of the mirror attached to the medicine cabinet while you applied the makeup to the red mark on your jaw. The longer you stared at yourself, the more you noticed the dark circles under your eyes.

No matter how many times you told yourself that you were fine on just a few hours of sleep, your own body continued to signal otherwise. You packed on the concealer in those areas too and finished the rest of your face in a matter of minutes. Just enough so you looked like a normal human being that doesn’t spend her nights kicking people’s asses. You had another job to get to later after all. One that wasn’t the bakery or the dead of night.

You went back into your bedroom with your makeup bag in hand. The black suitcase containing your night garb was still on the bed. You had been too tired to put everything away when you came home late, so you barely got around to it this morning. You put the mask and wig on top of the corset as well as the box with the knuckle set. You always made sure to clean them off when you weren’t using them. You zipped the luggage closed and pushed it back underneath the bed.

Believe it or not, you didn’t exactly become a vigilante overnight. Note the word, “vigilante”. You didn’t consider yourself a superhero, and neither did the rest of Hell’s Kitchen for that matter. “Another idiot with a mask” the cops would probably say, but you didn’t consider yourself that either. So, yes, you were a vigilante. “Superhero” was for people like the Avengers.

It started off about a year ago. Not the actual crime fighting, but the idea. Hell’s Kitchen is a shit town, you weren’t going to lie, which means that it’s prone to a lot of crazy stuff. As if that wasn’t already enough, being a minority makes it harder. There’s less of a chance for justice if your skin is darker than fair or if your hair isn’t blonde and straight or if you speak another language.

Robberies, rapings, and muders happen all the time, yet the authorities take their sweet time investigating, that is, if they did anything at all. Gangs riddle the neighborhoods all the time, and recruit young kids who could have had brighter futures. Yet you hadn’t seen anything done about it. Rich white people like Wilson Fisk and his buddies take up shop in places like Hell’s Kitchen and blow up communities to instill power. And maybe, just maybe, it could have gone his way.

But then he came along.

The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

Nobody knew who he was, but what people did know was that he was taking the law into his own hands. He went after assholes on the streets who robbed people, after gangs, and after Wilson Fisk himself. The police wanted him behind bars and so did a solid group of people, but not you. You hoped to god that nobody ever found out who he was, because you were in awe of what he was trying to do. He did what the police couldn’t or wouldn’t do. He saved lives and made sure the city was safe when it needed it the most.

Suddenly, one day you thought to yourself:  _I could do that too._

One man couldn’t do it all by himself.

Crime may have gone down, but you could still see bad shit happening in your own surroundings. So many of the immigrants that lived in Hell’s Kitchen never bothered to call the police sometimes for fear of getting deported. Women couldn’t walk down the street at night without the fear of getting sexually assaulted or murdered.

The Daredevil was doing a good job at kicking people’s asses, but you wanted to help.

So you planned. You already knew how to fight. It was something that not anyone else knew except you and your two older brothers. They had taken karate classes since they were old enough to. If it were up to you, you would have done the same, but your parents told you that it “wasn’t for girls”. Little did they know that you asked your brothers to give you lessons. Even though they protested on multiple occasions.

“Y/N, nos van a chingar si se enteran,” Hector, the oldest, would sing.

“If you don’t tell anyone, then they won’t find out, will they?” you’d answer.

While they continued to learn, you learned along with them. You even made them teach you how to throw ninja stars (and knives) when the time came. As it turns out, you were a fast learner when it came to that, which is why to this day you’ve marked it as one of your specialties.

Knowing that you had that down, you did research on different gear that you could buy or make for yourself. You took a part time job working for your parents, and for a year you saved up your money and you slowly started purchasing everything that you needed. You weren’t just going to throw on a random t-shirt or some cheap leotard with no protection.

About two months ago, you finally got everything together. You had been filled with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. No one in your family knew what you had been preparing to do. As far as they knew, you were just trying to become a social worker. You’d be going out in this get up and no one would know who you were and you’d be free to do whatever you wanted. As long as it was right. Maybe not right by the law. But right.

You went out the following night. It was a little rough, as you had no previous knowledge or experience of being a vigilante. However, you managed to stop a robbery in the nick of time. You were a little banged up, but it was exhilarating. Ever since then you developed your own fighting style and rhythm. You’d patrol the streets and watch from the rooftops. It started off small, but eventually you’d begin to get a whiff of an arms deal about to happen or the like.

It easily became a new lifestyle for you. Daughter, part-time baker, aspiring social worker by day and a crime fighter in green leather by night. At first, people had confused you for the Daredevil. People heard of something that went down with a gang and they’d assume that it was him, but eventually people started to notice that it was someone else entirely. A woman.

You.

You were slowly making a name for yourself. “La vibora” the people that came by the baker would say was the mysterious female’s name. This translates to “The Viper”. A venomous snake. You liked it. You were sure that the name partially came from your knuckle set that you used with the two spikes. Whenever you punched someone with them, it would leave a mark like a snake bite. Between that and your throwing knives, the phrase to describe an encounter with La vibora was: “No one escapes without getting bit.”

You took it as a compliment and adopted it as your M.O. If a snake is what they wanted, then a snake is what they got.

And surprisingly, up until this point, you hadn’t run into the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen just yet. It made you wonder how that encounter would go should the time come.

* * *

 

The sky was cloudy today and it was fairly chilly, so it made you even more eager to stop by for some coffee on the way to work. A few seconds after exiting the coffee shop, you happened to pass by the guy that cat called you last night. A feeling of satisfaction washed over you when you saw that he had a black eye and tape over a broken nose.

A little gift your alter ego had given him for harassing another girl. 

 You gripped the warm cup from Starbucks in your hand and it’s heat radiated through you. Amongst you was the usual hustle and bustle of New York. Life was fast and on the go. There was the usual stench of cigarette smoke, which you hated. But you had gotten used to it all at this point.

You took a sip of your coffee, and you could feel the caffeine slowly start to do its job of waking you up. As you walked forward, you noticed a familiar face in the distance. A tall brunette man with red glasses and a walking stick. Your heart fluttered when you recognized him.

Matt Murdock.

You had only met him yesterday and you were sure you would never see him again. As you drew closer to him, you thought it only best to say hello to him. If anyone was going to do it, you figured that it’d be you since he probably had no awareness of your presence.

“Matt!” you called out excitedly.

He stopped in his tracks and tilted his head in your direction. He furrowed his brow but a small smile played on his pink lips.

* * *

 

Matt was on his way to the office. His body was a bit sore from patrolling last night. He was used to the feeling. Something always happens, and it always ends in a fight. He did meditate early in the morning to alleviate any pain, so that was something. What usually plagued him were the much bigger issue. Wilson Fisk, the Hand, and the many other things that required the mask to be dealt with.

With walking stick in hand, he walked down the sidewalk. If it were up to him, he wouldn’t use it. He didn’t need it anyway, but he had to maintain the illusion that he was a regular blind man. Even though he could sense everyone around him. Especially the person that he sensed was a up ahead. Their heart beat had quickened suddenly, but it didn’t seem threatening. They were holding a cup of coffee, he could smell it. The person seemed familiar, but not enough. As they got closer to him, the person called out his name.

It was a woman. By the sound of her voice, he knew where he had met her before. Yesterday evening at the bakery. Matt could help the smile that tugged at his lips.

“I’m Y/N Y/L/N. We met yesterday at my parent’s bakery?”

Matt smiled even wider. “I remember you. It’s nice seeing you again, Y/N.”

Her heart raced when he said her name, but she kept her breathing even. The smell of coffee filled his nostrils and it was mixed with the smell of her perfume. It was flowery and nice. Much nicer than the usual New York smell that’s for sure.

“I didn’t think I’d end up seeing you again so soon,” she said.

She was smiling.

“I hope you don’t mean that negatively,” Matt half joked.

She chuckled, “Oh no. Not at all.”

“Quite the opposite,” she whispered to herself, but Matt heard every word.

It caused him to smirk.

“Well, are you on your way to work at the bakery right now?” he asked.

She shook her head, “No, umm. That’s more of a temporary job. I’m actually heading to work at the high school.”

This piqued his interest.

“Oh, are you a teacher?” he asked

“Kind of. There’s a program that helps kids in need with planning out their futures, gives them counseling, helps them with homework, and things of the like. I’m one of the people in charge of that.”

Matt raised his eyebrows. He was impressed. He wasn’t sure what he expected from this girl, but helping kids in need wasn’t one of the first thoughts that he had.

He nodded his head slowly, “Sounds like you’re doing some good work.”

She shrugged, “I try.”

Something in Matt made him want to keep walking to her. He wasn’t sure how much he believed in fate vs coincidences. But what were the odds of seeing her twice in a row like this?

Her voice broke through his thoughts suddenly, “I should probably get going. Don’t want to be late.”

This snapped Matt back into real time.

“Right. Wouldn’t want to keep you from those kids.”

“And I wouldn’t want to keep you from you from your cases. The big lawyer stuff and all that,” she smirked.

He chuckled, “I wouldn’t call Nelson & Murdock ‘big’ just yet.”

“It’s good to speak it into existence though. Isn’t it?”

“I guess it is.”

This girl was different. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did.

She took a deep breath, “Well, it was great seeing you again, Matt.”

He could sense her hesitation. Almost like she didn’t want to go.

“Good to see you too, Y/N.”

She bid her goodbye, “Hasta luego,” and started walking past Matt.

Matt didn’t move, just listened as her heels clacked on the sidewalk as she walked away.

* * *

 

You walked away, but slowly. Part of you wanted to turn around and ask him for his number or something. Did that go against whatever lawyer-client thing that was going on? Well, you technically weren’t his client, you parents were, so it probably didn’t matter. And you certainly didn’t want him to get away again. Even though you were very particular about your taste in men. But maybe this was the only other chance you go to see him again.

After all, what were the odds of seeing each other again twice in a row like this? 

“Y/N!”

You spun back around to face the other end of the sidewalk. Matt was still standing in the same spot where the two of you had been talking. Luckily you hadn’t gotten that far.

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to go out for coffee some time or maybe even lunch?” he called out with a smile.

You mirrored his expression and stepped a little closer. Your stomach fluttered in excitement

“I’d love that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> “Nos van a chingar si se enteran” = “They’re gonna beat us if they find out.”
> 
> "Hasta luego" = "Until next time"


	3. Kicking Ass and Taking Dates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you finally get to see the reader kick some ass in her suit, but also go on her date with Matthew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings include: violence, blood, sexual assault, knives, cussing, puking

They were walking away from the bar, the girl was stumbling in the man’s grasp as he held her up. She was clearly completely intoxicated. You wouldn’t be surprised if she woke up tomorrow with no remembrance of the night’s events and the worst hangover ever.

You watched them from the roof of a building that was across the street, hidden in the shadows. There was something off with the man that was with her. You got a bad vibe. He didn’t seem drunk at all, quite the opposite, and he didn’t exactly seem like to type to drop her off safely at her doorstep and leave it at that.

They crossed the street.

Suddenly, to confirm your suspicions, he veers her into a dark alleyway next to your building. All the while he’s looking around to make sure that no one else is around. Your eyes narrow and your nostrils flare.

Why did this always have to happen?

You bounded down towards the edge of the roof and glanced down. The bastard already had her pinned against the brick wall, his dirty mouth sucking on her face. You made of an noise of disgust.

The girl whimpered and slurred, “Stop it.”

“It’s okay. Just let it happen.”

With that as your queue, you jumped down onto the fire escape to give yourself a safe height to then jumped down onto the pavement with a roll. Being too distracted with what he was doing, the guy didn’t notice. One hand was placed over her mouth while the other was making its way under her dress.

You walked forward, then slipped a knife from your thigh and flung it with ease at his arm. As soon as it made contact, he cried out, stumbling away from the girl.

“Aww fuck!”

He looked down at his arm with utter shock and was moving to pull it out until he noticed you. But he noticed you too late, because by that time you were two feet away from him, full of rage.

“What the-”

You swung your right hook at his face and he fell back against the opposite side of the alley. He tried defending himself with his own punch, but you dodged it and grabbed his forearm. You then twisted it behind his back, grabbed the  back of his hair, and shoved his face against the red brick. Blood from his nose painted the walls a shade darker.

“So you like taking advantage of drunk girls don’t you,  _hijo de puta_?” you barked.

A faint smile dared to grace his lips and you could see that there was blood coating his teeth.

“I heard about you. You’re the  _Bitch_  of Hell’s Kitchen. Isn’t that what you are? Daredevil’s bitch?”

Your hand that was holding his hair went to the knife that was in his arm. You twisted it and a strangled cry escaped his throat. You leaned into his ear and hissed,

“The only bitch here, is you. You think it makes you a man when you rape women? Huh? No woman in their right mind would sleep with you when they’re sober so you resort to this? Or what? Mommy and daddy never told you that ‘no’ means ‘no’, so you think you can take whatever you want?”

He struggled against you, so you twisted the knife even further. When he groaned in pain, you pushed his face even more into the brick so the sound would muffle.

“Whatever it is, asshole you need to learn to keep it in your pants before someone decides to chop it off.”

“Go to hell,” he spit out.

You snorted, “We’re both already there.”

You pushed away from him, letting him go, but only to swiftly grab the knuckle set from your pockets. In that time he turned around and threw a punch at you with a roar. Expecting this predictable move, you grabbed his wrist and jabbed your elbow into right into this forearm. You heard it break with a crack. Without stopping, you moved to knee him in the groin and then with one final blow, you connected your fist with his face. The metal spikes sunk into his cheek.

There was a series of cries and groans before he fell to the floor with a grunt. You could tell that he was still breathing, but he wouldn’t be getting up for a while. Before doing anything else, you walked over to him and pulled the throwing knife out of his arm, wiped the blood on your sleeve and put it back in it’s holster. Lucky for you, the guy never stood a chance.

You stuffed the spiked back into your pockets and then turned your attention to the drunk girl on the other side of the alley. She had slid down to the floor, and was staring in your direction with wide eyes. Her dress was hiked up and she was swaying back and forth.

“Oh my god,” she slurred before turning to the side and vomiting on the dark pavement.

You walked over to her and helped her up. You kept your arms under her shoulders and she was shaking. You helped her pull down her dress. The anger was ebbing away and now you were more worried about getting her home safe.

She looked at you, narrowing and widening her eyes alternatively as if trying to refocus her vision

“Are you an angel or something?”

You snorted. That was probably the first time someone referred to you as something remotely positive. You? Angelic? In this outfit? Probably not. But you humored her. Drunk girls were always the sweetest, anyway.

“Whatever floats your boat, hon.”

* * *

 

Sunlight peaked in through the blinds at Nelson & Murdock. Matt had just fixed himself a cup of tea and was sitting in the main part of the office, where Karen was organizing files in a cabinet. From the right side of the space, Foggy came out of his own private office.

“Have you guys heard about that new vigilante?” he asked his friends and colleagues, Matt and Karen.

Matt raised a quizzical eyebrow.

“New vigilante?”

“Apparently there’s a new person wearing a mask who’s also decided to take justice into their own hands, following in the steps of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.”

Karen had shut the drawer that she had been working through and leaned against the tall cabinet with her arms crossed.

“Oh yeah, ‘The Viper’.”

Foggy scrunched up his face in confusion, “The what?”

“The Viper or La Vibora. That’s what they’re calling her. Apparently she’s a woman.”

Karen had a faint expression on her face like she was proud and Foggy looked impressed. Matt, on the other hand, was going over everything in his brain.

So there was another vigilante out there and this was the first time he had heard about it. Somehow he feels like he should have known, but to his surprised, he hadn’t run into anyone that might fit that name. He had been so caught up in his own work as the Daredevil and as a lawyer, that he didn’t stop to pay attention to any talks about a masked woman. If there were ever any news about a vigilante, it was usually about him, so he had learned to assume it was the same thing.

“She broke a guy’s arm last night for trying to rape some girl,” Foggy explained, “I heard about it this morning while I was at the police department.”

“Bribing Bess with cigars again?” Matt chimed in.

Foggy pointed a finger at him, “ She loves cigars, I was giving her a gift, but that’s besides the point.”

“Well, she sounds pretty badass to me. I hope she keeps breaking rapists arms, for all of our sakes,” Karen said while pushing herself off of the cabinets.

“Why do they call her ‘The Viper’?” Matt asked.

“Every single one of her ‘victims’ has two puncture wounds on their body, like a snake bite. They say she uses some kind of weapon to do it, but it’s so dark that they don’t see what it is,” Karen said.

Matt looked intrigued.

“Sounds a lot like a vampire to me,” Foggy said.

Matt smirked, “You seem to know a lot about her, Karen.”

“Yeah I thought I was all cool, with the breaking news, but I guess not,” Foggy frowned.

Karen shrugged, “I’m kind of a journalist. It’s part of my job to know things. Anyways, I think I’m going to get us some sandwiches. What do you guys want on yours?”

Matt was pulled away from thoughts of the new vigilante, and was reminded about his plans with you. Foggy gave her his order, but Matt said he didn’t want anything. Karen was confused, but when Matt said that he had other plans, she nodded and headed out the door with her purse and her coat.

Matt turned to his best friend, “What time is it Foggy?”

His friend checked the watch on his wrist, “It’s 11:35. Why?”

Matt rose from his seat and reached for his walking stick, “Because I have somewhere to be in about thirty minutes.”

“Where?”

There was worry laced in his voice. Matt knew it was because of the whole Daredevil thing. Foggy worried. He leaned against his stick.

“Don’t worry, it’s still day time so it has nothing to do with the mask. I’m actually going on a date.”

Foggy shook his head in disbelief, “Hold on. You have a date? Like a real date? One that’s not just for sex?”

Matt snorted, “Yes, Foggy. Contrary to popular belief, I do go on those.”

“Since when? And with who?”

Matt grabbed his coat from the hanger by the door and slipped it on.

With a curve of his lip he said, “I’ll give you one guess.”

Foggy furrowed his brow and bit down on his lips pensively for a few moments. Matt could practically hear the gears in his brain turning. All of a sudden, his eyes widened and he gasped.

“No way.”

Matt chuckled.

“The girl from the bakery? Mr. and Mrs. Y/L/N’s daughter?” Foggy went on.

“The very same.”

“But how? Did you end up going back or something?”

“No, actually. Crazy thing, we ran into each other on the street the next day while we were both going to work.”

“Huh. Small world.”

“I mean, Hell’s Kitchen is only like 10 square blocks, Fog.”

“Yeah, I know, but- anyways…have fun, man. Maybe this’ll be good for you. You’ll finally be with a normal girl who can take your mind off of all that dangerous shit you do.”

Matt sighed, but he couldn’t say that it wasn’t what he wanted. Maybe what he needed was normal.

“Maybe,” he said aloud. “See you later, Fog.”

* * *

 

There were 10 minutes left of the class that you helped at the high school. It was offered as an elective in the middle of the day and you had quite a handful of kids. Based on their financial situation, they were usually sent a letter at home recommending that they take the course to help with their future. You and the other teacher you worked with, Mr. Mejilla, always did your best to make it a fun experience, considering that it wasn’t the most ideal elective, which meant field trips from time to time. Museums, beach clean ups, college tours, etc. It’s only been a little over a year since you started working here and you already developed a strong relationship with the kids.

Right now, you were working with Luis Ramos. He was the eldest of a Hispanic family with a little brother and sister. His dad walked out when they were just children, so it was just his mom who was taking care of them. Part of your job was to help him stay focused and to make sure that he didn’t end up joining a gang like most of the kids in his neighborhood did.

You were just finishing looking over a practice essay that he wrote, when he asked:

“Ey, did you hear about La Vibora?”

You put your pen down on the essay that you were writing notes on. You wanted to smile at the sound of your alter ego’s name, but you remained cool. You turned to him, his brown eyes were full of excitement.

“That new person in a mask that everyone says is a woman?” you asked nonchalantly.

“Yeah. People keep saying she’s just like El Diablo.”

He meant Daredevil.  _I’d beg to differ_ , you thought.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, she only goes after the bad guys just like he does. But I think she’s better. She saved my tio from getting robbed on his way back from work. He said she was throwing knives and stuff. Seems pretty cool to me.”

You grinned, “She does sound pretty cool.”

You turned your attention back to his essay, but he spoke up once again.

“Hey, I never asked you…what do you think about these vigilantes running around?”

You rested your chin on your hand and thought about what to say.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think they’re good or bad?”

You shrugged, “I don’t think they’re bad…”

But you wouldn’t call yourself good necessarily. That is, if you were talking about your alter ego. You looked around to make sure no one else was listening in and then talked in a low voice. You tried sounding has neutral as possible.

“If you ask me, I think that they have a good cause. They’ve saved a bunch of good people and have only ever attacked bad people. Crime has gone down in Hell’s Kitchen. I have nothing against them.”

“That’s what I think. I don’t think they’re bad, but there are some people who think they’re just stupid people in masks.”

You furrowed your brow, “Well, if they were stupid, they wouldn’t be able to do the things that they do, don’t you think? I mean, not just anyone could be a vigilante.”

Luis nodded, “Exactly.”

You smiled at him before giving him back his essay.

“It’s good, but there are some things that you definitely need to work on, okay?”

He nodded once again. You checked your phone and realized that you had two minutes before the bell rang. You started putting your things in your purse.

“You got somewhere to be after this Ms. Y/L/N?”

When you looked at Luis, he had an eyebrow raised. He must have noticed how quick you were to get out of here. You usually stayed for a while after class, but you had other plans today. You got up from your chair and shrugged.

“Maybe.”

“A date?”

You pointed at him, “Nosy, aren’t we?”

“Hey, I’m just curious.”

You slung your bad over your shoulder and crossed your arms. A second after, the bell rang.

“If you must know, I am going on a date.”

“What happened to ‘I don’t need a man, Luis’?”

You laughed, “I don’t, but this guy seems nice, so I’m giving him a shot.”

“Well, if he turns out to be an asshole, I’ll beat him up for you,” he lifted his fists and pretended to punch the air.

“Easy, tiger,” you went around your desk and started heading towards the door.

* * *

 

You entered the small diner. It was a nice place that served sandwiches, burgers, and a variety of other things. There was a line to get in, as it was peak lunch hour, but luckily you knew that Matt was already inside. You scanned the area until your eyes fell on the man in the dark gray suit and red glasses. He was sitting in a booth. You smiled and made your way over.

“Hey!” you said.

“Hey,” he smiled and it made your heart race.

“Sorry if I’m late,” you apologized.

“Oh it’s totally fine. I’m probably just early. Please, have a seat.”

He motioned to the other side of the booth and you slid in with no hesitation. You felt your heart already start to race and you were thankful when the waitress came over to take your drink orders. When she left, you decided to break the ice.

“Sorry if I get a little awkward. I don’t go on dates too often.”

He chuckled, “No worries. No first date is complete without a little awkwardness.”

You smiled, feeling a bit of relief. “Very true.

There was a beat of silence.

“So, Y/N…”

You raised your eyebrows, prepared for whatever he was going to say next. You thought he was going to say something serious based on his tone of voice. However, it changed to a humorous one.

“I don’t mean to bother you, but do you mind letting me know what’s on the menu?”

You laughed, “Of course.”

He laughed with you. “Thank you.”

You grabbed your menu and opened it.

“Well, they have…”

You started reading off what was on the menu and Matt listened to every word very closely. You didn’t know this, but he liked your enthusiasm while naming the different sandwiches and burgers. When the both of you finally chose what  you wanted to eat, you gave your orders to the waitress and she was gone once again.

You took a sip of your water.

“So, this might be a weird question, but…why did you decide to asked me out?”

It was a curious question. Wouldn’t we all like to know? “ _What was it that captured your attention about me?” or “No one ever asks me out, so why did you?”_

“You just seemed like someone I’d like to get to know - that I  _should_  get to know.”

That made your heart flutter. This was definitely a stark contrast from the asshole you beat up last night and the date had only just begun. But how did he know if you weren’t some crazy woman that he  _shouldn’t_ get to know?

“Is that something you get better at when you can’t see? Perceiving things?”

“I guess so yeah. You notice things that others can’t.”

“And that includes things about other people?”

“Yes.”

You furrowed your brow thoughtfully and took another sip of your drink.

“What have you noticed about me so far?”

He grinned.

“I hope I’m not annoying you with my questions already,” you added.

He shook his head, “Oh no. I like hearing you talk. The sound of your voice.”

You blushed. You tended to find your voice annoying, especially when it was on video.

“I guess that’s one of the things I’ve noticed,” he said.

“What?”

“The sound of your voice,” he explained, “It’s nice, strong. I can hear the confidence in your voice like you’re sure about what you’re doing, but also very friendly. It’s not harsh. If that makes sense. And I hear a lot of  _that_  in other people.”

You stared at him in awe. You don’t think that anyone else has ever noticed such details about you, and definitely not in a short time span like this. Was he even real?

“You notice that….from hearing me talk?”

He nodded, “Yeah.”

You took a deep breath and then exhaled. This date was already going differently than any other you had been on…and in a very good way. Matt was different, and not just because he was blind.

You rested your elbows on the table top and put you chin in your palms.

“Well, you wanted to get to know me, so ask away.”

He smiled.

* * *

 

The both of you tried your best to squeeze in as many questions for each other as you could. You were momentarily interrupted when your lunch finally arrived, but you managed to talk between bites.

Both you and Matt seemed genuinely interested in each other and it was the most natural thing you had ever felt. You just didn’t want to keep him from his work, but when you voiced this he said,

“Foggy and Karen can wait. They’ll understand.”

To which you chuckled.

When you were done with your lunches, you both sighed in contentment. You were both full of delicious food and newly energized.

You gazed at him with that slight curve to his pink lips and the red glasses over his eyes. It was then that a question that you had been reluctant to ask started swimming in your mind. You figured that you were going ot have to find out sooner or later.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking…but…”

“Are you gonna ask me if I’ve always been blind?”

Your face flushed with a bit of embarrassment, but it made you feel better knowing that he couldn’t see it. Still, you scrunched up your face in a cringe.

“I guess a lot of people ask that, huh?”

“Oh, all the time, but don’t feel bad for asking it. If you’re really wondering - no I haven’t always been blind.”

This made you raise your eyebrows and another question came out of your mouth.

“How did it happen?”

“Car accident,” he answered casually.

Your gut instinct was to say “I’m sorry”, but you’ve learned in many situations that it doesn’t really do much. So you asked another question.

“Is there something that you miss the most?”

He hummed and then, “Yeah. The sky.”

You could hear the longing in his voice. You couldn’t imagine being able to see one moment and then the next have it all turn to darkness. However you looked at Matt, and you saw who he was: a very capable human being and lawyer. He had more humanity than most people that you’ve met.

Matt reached for his water and took a sip before changing the subject, “So you really haven’t been on many dates before?”

You hummed in amusement. Now this was the topic that everyone asked you about. Most of the time, they couldn’t believe that you were single. “But you’re so pretty!” people would say. Well, “pretty” means shit when you have strong opinions about things.

“What?” Matt asked with a curious look.

“Nothing, it’s just…you’d be surprised how many people ask me that in that same tone of voice.”

He cocked an eyebrow, “What tone of voice?”

“That ‘how is it possible?’ tone of voice. Because it makes me feel like they’re also thinking ‘Why?’ and ‘There must be something wrong with you.’”

“Really? Well, I didn’t mean it that way. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you.”

You smiled, “Thanks. I don’t go on many dates because I’m either too much for some guys or too little. Whether it’s because I focus on myself or because I don’t want kids this very second. Knowing that, I’ve become picky with my choices in men. Otherwise my time is wasted.”

“At least you know what you want or what you don’t want.”

You tilted your head in agreement, “True.”

“And where do I stand in this? I haven’t wasted your time, I hope.”

“Oh no. The opposite actually,” you shook your head and then said the next words shyly. “If I’m being honest, you’re probably the first guy that I wish I had more time with.”

It was true. You’d gladly go on more dates with Matt and you thanked God that he walked into your family’s bakery during your shift.

Matt reached out his hand and you took it, with surprise, but you took it. The heat from his palm sent warmth through you. He gave you a lopsided smile.

“Well, that’s what second dates are for, right?”


	4. El Diablo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you run into someone unexpectedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's build up at the beginning and then the other part is just crazy.
> 
> Warnings include: violence, blood, injuries, weapons, cussing 
> 
> Translations at the end!

“Y tu porque estas tan sonriente?” your mom asked during your shift at the bakery.

You had been daydreaming about the night before. You had gone on yet another date with Matt. The two of you went to your favorite Mexican restaurant for a dinner date. It was a night filled with laughter and life stories. You talked about growing up with your brothers and him about his shenanigans with Foggy in college. You were the happiest you had ever been and when Matt had walked you home, you let him know that.

At your doorstep, in that cliche romance movie way, the two of you kissed.

Part of you wanted to invite him inside, but you held back. It may have been the fact that you were still scared of where this might go or it could have been the fact that having your fighting gear under the bed made you feel weird. But in the end, you decided to save it for another night.

It’s been two weeks since you started seeing each other, and you hadn’t actually told your mom about it all. It wasn’t exactly her business in the first place, but considering that you  had told her about your past experiences, it was different. You wanted to protect this thing from her in a way. You knew if you did a little too early, she’d announce it to your aunts, who would then spread the news like wildfire. Before you knew it, everyone would want to meet him. Needless to say, it ended awkwardly when past relationships didn’t last.

She looked at you now, eyes narrowed, “Tienes novio o que?”

Moms and their ability to just know things (Was that an ability one acquired once you gave birth, or…?) You never could keep secrets from them for very long. Well, the normal ones. Not, “I’m a vigilante by night” type of secrets. Those, you would hope she would never figure out.

You shrugged, “Can’t I just smile because I’m happy?”

She crossed her arms, “Happy about what?”

You rolled your eyes, “No seas chismosa. Don’t be nosey.”

“Me? Nosey? You can’t blame a mother for wanting to know about her children’s lives.”

“Yeah but can I blame you for blurting it out to the rest of the world?”

She scoffed and grabbed a rag to wipe down the already clean counter, “No se de que hablas.”

You shook your head, “If I was seeing someone, I wouldn’t tell you who he is anyway.”

She harrumphed and went back to the kitchen.

* * *

 

Later in the evening, surprise visitors arrived at the bakery. You were coming out of the kitchen when…

“Y/N!”

You were startled by the sound of your name and when you looked towards the door there was Matt, Foggy, and Karen all filed in with happy faces and sweet greetings. Your heart went crazy when you and Matt smiled at each other.

“Hi,” you said.

“Hi,” he smirked.

“I didn’t know you were stopping by.”

“It was a spontaneous decision. Foggy really wanted to come and I thought it was a great idea.”

“I really wanted to get my hands on one of those conchas again,” Foggy said.

“Yeah, they were really good,” Karen nodded.

You giggled, “Well, there’s plenty to go around.”

You grabbed a white bag and packed up three pan dulces for them to take home. Foggy also requested a cookie in the shape and color of a watermelon to try out. When they tried to pay, you once again refused to let them pay. They were still getting free bread after all.

“Let us at least pay you in drinks,” Karen chimed in.

“Oh yeah!” Foggy exclaimed, “We’re going to Josie’s later. Do you want to come after your shift?”

You opened and closed your mouth to answer but you thought better of it. You could have gone, but today was a really good day to patrol the streets since it was Friday. Things always happened on Fridays. 

You shook your head, “I’d love to, but I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on for my real job. Maybe a rain check?”

You looked between the three of them. Foggy pointed at you,

“We’ll hold you to it,” he sighed, “Guess it’s just me and Karen tonight.”

You frowned and looked up at Matt.

“You’re not going?”

He shook his head, “No. I also have some things to take care of with work.”

“Do you ever stop working?” you teased.

He grinned, “Only when I want to spend my time with you.”

You blushed and laughed nervously.

“Okaaaay. We’ll meet you outside, Matt,” Foggy said awkwardly as he headed out the door with the bag. “Bye, Y/N.”

You and Matt were left alone in the bakery. Your mom and dad were back in the kitchen. You could hear them working and you really hoped that  they didn’t decide to come to the front.

“Was it true that Foggy wanted to come or was it your idea?”

He shrugged, “He wanted to get desert and I may have suggested that we come here.”

You cocked your head to the side, “If you wanted to see me, you could have called and asked.”

“True, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to surprise you.”

You smiled, you eyes filled with endearment.

“You figured right. I happen to like surprises. Now, especially if they involve you making an appearance,” you said.

Even though you were most likely covered in powder and felt like a sweaty mess and your nosy parents were a few feet away, you really liked that he stopped by. 

He offered his hand to you on the counter. Before taking it you looked around to make sure no one else was looking and then took it. He lifted it to his lips and planted kiss on the back of your hand.

“You’re a charmer, aren’t you Murdock?”

He chuckled, “I try my best.”

He slowly slipped his grasp away from you and took a step back to head out.

“I’ll call you tomorrow, Y/N.”

“Okay,” you whispered.

He turned to go and you realized that you didn’t want him to leave just yet. Not without giving him a proper goodbye.

“Matt.”

He turned back around with a cocked eyebrow.

“What?”

“Come here.”

He walked back to the counter.  Once he was in front of you and  looking in your direction, you leaned over the counter and grabbed the lapels of his suit to kissed him. It was quick, but hard, and enough to make the both of you smile like idiots.

You let go of him and smoothed out his jacket.

“I’ll be waiting for your call,” breathed out before finally letting him head out the door with a big grin on his face.

* * *

 

It was crazy. You really liked Matt. A lot. He saw you in a way that others didn’t, not even your family or your closest friends. You grew very comfortable around him and he really appreciated the fact that you didn’t treat him like he was made of glass. You never did like being treated like a little girl, so you never liked treating others as less than because of something they couldn’t help.

You were starting to feel like a schoolgirl with a crush. You already felt your heart flutter by his mere appearance, but now you felt giddy at the mere thought of him. You wanted to see him again and couldn’t wait until the next time that you did. It was a wonderful, yet torturous feeling.

A completely different contrast to your nighttime alter ego.

* * *

 

You stood on the roof of an old building in the most sketchy part of town. Shit usually went down here, so it was a good place to patrol for the night. If you looked over to your right, you could see the Hudson River in the distance, and just across it were the buildings of New Jersey.

You breathed in the cold night air - a mixture of must, sea salt, and cigarette smoke. When you looked up, there was the dark blue night sky, currently devoid of stars. Even though you were supposed to be focused on what was happening in the city before you, there were many times where you wished you could be somewhere more open if only to see the stars. The city lights and pollution never allowed them to shine through enough for people to see.

Suddenly your mind flew to Matt. It was beginning to be a regular occurrence now, even in the middle of the night. Now, as you thought about the stars, you wondered if he ever got to see them at least once before the accident that caused him to go blind. It made you sad. You really hoped he did.

Another thought that occurred to you was, how the hell you were ever going to tell him about your night life? If things got serious…how would you do it? Would you even do it? This was the first guy that you had dated since becoming La Vibora, so it was something you never had to fully think about until now. And now that you did, it kind of scared you. If Matt ever did find out about your night life, would he still want to be with you? Or would that be too much for him?

You shook the idea out of your head. You didn’t want to think about that right now. You shouldn’t be thinking about that right now. There was no telling how far things would go with Matt in the first place. Plus, you had other priorities to worry about.

Suddenly you heard grunting and shuffling, like people were fighting. It took you out of the cogs of your mind. Your brows furrowed and your head snapped forward. To your complete and utter bewilderment, right there, across the way on another building, were four people fighting on the opposite roof. From what you could see, it seemed like it was three against against one. Whoever, the fourth guy was, he clearly seemed like he needed help.

Without thinking twice, you went to the edge and easily scaled down the building until you were down on the sidewalk and ran across the empty street to the other building. The sounds continued to echo in the night, the fight was still going on. You went to the alleyway, pulled down the fire escape ladder after a few tugs, and then climbed up it.

You had your hands hovering over the sides of your thighs where your knives were. The adrenaline rush already started to kick in. When you reached the top, the four people were getting closer the side where you were at. The ones that were doing the attacking, were basically cornering the last man. Whoever they were, you were having none of it.

You unsheathed two knives and to distract them you yelled, “Hey!”

All of them stopped and looked at you. Your breath hitched.

These weren’t just regular people. The three assholes beating up the lone guy were dressed in all black with everything but their eyes covered up. Like ninjas.  _Ninjas_. They all had different weapons in their hands - katana, dagger, sais. However, that wasn’t what shocked you the most. Oh no. What really shocked you was the fourth man who was dressed in all red with batons and a mask that only showed the bottom portion of his face. Small horns protruded from the top of it.

_The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen._

What the hell, indeed.

The ninjas wasted no more than a few seconds taking you in before one of them came towards you, while the others stayed on the red-cladded vigilante. On cue you threw a knife, but he dodged it. You rolled away from him when he tried to pounce and then threw another, but it missed him by a hair. He was too fast.

He came at you again with his dagger. You managed to dodge it and throw a punch which connected to his face, but the more you did it he more successful he was at dodging. He swiped at you with the dagger and nicked you in the stomach.

It pissed you off, fustrated you.

So you dropped to the floor and swept your legs into his to make him fall over. It worked, causing the dagger in his hand to clatter out of his grasp. You kicked it away and then kicked him in the face. However, another one of them came at you with the sais. You took out your baton and used it to block his attacks. The Devil was much closer to you now, fighting the other ninja with the katana.

All you could think was:  _How the fuck did I get here?_

It didn’t take long to realize that you were way out of your element. These men were much more skilled than you by a mile and used moves you had never seen before. They were much quicker and swifter. They made zero noise when they moved, which terrified you for some reason. You were used to people who had little to no fighting skills

There was a faint whistling noise.

“Watch out!”

And then a searing pain in your right arm as something sharp sunk into your skin.

“Fuck!” you exclaimed.

At first you thought it was the dagger back into the clutches of the first ninja, but when you looked down there was a damn ninja star with about six points sticking out of  the fabric of your jacket. Blood started to ooze from the wound it made. It was the first guy, alright, but he had decided to beat you at your own game by throwing something sharp at you too.

_Maldita sea._

You tried to keep fighting with your baton, but since you were using your left hand you couldn’t keep your hold on it. It clattered to the ground. Before he could come at you with the sais, Daredevil threw one of his batons at his head.

This gave you time to reach for the ninja star and pull it out carefully with your fingers. When you did, it was nauseatingly painful. Your jaw hurt from your teeth clenching, so you quickened the pace to get it over with. When it was out, you let it clatter to the floor.

Without warning, fists and legs were being thrown at you. Two of the three had gone to deal with the Daredevil, but one was still set on you. Hand to hand combat was what he resorted to now

You managed to hold your own enough with your knuckle set, and for the first time since this started you thought that you had him. But you overestimated yourself. His fist hit your gut, making a groan escape your mouth and the wind knock out of you. Without wasting another second he kicked you in the face. Pain shot through your skull and you cried out. Suddenly you had doubled over onto your hands and knees. You could taste coppery blood on your tongue. Your ribs ached.

There were more grunts and yells. Through your dizziness, you managed to catch a glimpse of what the the other vigilante was doing. To see if he had knocked one of them out. But just when you did, he was being kicked off the roof. 

You gasped. 

A shadow loomed over you and then next thing you knew, there was pain on the side of your head and your entire world went black.

* * *

 

There was a throbbing pain in your head when you came to. Your cheek was pressed against the surface of the rooftop and you peeled your eyes open slowly to a blurry haze.

Lord knows how much time had passed. Based on the darkness in the sky, you knew that it was night time, but for all you knew it could have been the following night. You could have been unconscious on this roof for weeks (an exaggeration but it felt that way).

You were still in your Viper attire. Mask, wig, suit, and all, including some fresh cuts and bruises. To top it all off,  the ninjas had long since disappeared. And for some fucking reason, you were still alive. Why were you still alive? You could have sworn they were going to kill you. Maybe you weren’t the one they wanted. Maybe they wanted….

Your eyes widened.

Daredevil. They had thrown him off the roof, you remembered.

You got up to your feet. It was a struggle considering that there were numerous parts of your body that hurt like hell. Not only your head, but your jaw, ribs, and the few cuts that stung from the dagger. Not to mention that you had a pretty deep gash in your right arm from the ninja star. It was safe to say you had taken the worst beating of your life as of late.

With a hand over your stomach in an attempt to quell the pain, you walked over to the edge of the building.

You expected to find the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen down there on the pavement somewhere. Whether or not you’d find him dead or alive was a mystery to you, but there was no way someone could be okay from a fall like that.

So, naturally, you did not expect to find the alley below completely empty.

You were taken aback. It was barren save for a dumpster that was against the wall with a few black garbage bags inside. Other than that, there was nothing. No sign of him or any other human being at all

You dropped down and sat on the ledge with your legs dangling over the edge of the building. With your uninjured arm, you took off your mask and set it aside. It was relieving, like your face could finally breathe.

You were - to put it mildly - exhausted. This night turned out way differently than you had expected. I mean, no one ever expects to fight ninjas in real life.

You had so many questions. Where was he? Did those ninja men take him? If so, was he alive? Dead? Or did he manage to get out of this totally fine? If so…how?

There were also other questions that you had.

Why were there ninja in Hell’s Kitchen to being with? Who were they? Why were they trying to kill the Daredevil? And why didn’t they kill you?

You needed to know. You knew there was a layer to Hell’s Kitchen that nobody else knew about. It was the layer that you were hoping to get into since the beginning, and maybe in the back of your mind you saw something like this happening.  It could have scared anyone away, but you wouldn’t let it scare you. Instead, you were going to figure out what hell was going on in your city. And you had to prepare yourself for it.

You just had to get yourself home and patched up first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> “Y por que estas tan sonriente?” = “Why are you so smiley?”
> 
> “Tienes novio o que?” = “Do you have a boyfriend or what?”
> 
> “Maldita sea” = “Dammit”


	5. Outmatched

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which both you and Matt have questions and deal with the aftermath of your encounter with the ninjas, and each other's alter egos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings include: blood, wounds, cussing, angst

The fluorescent lights of your bathroom burned bright overhead, doing nothing to alleviate the headache that pounded in your skull. The first aid kit you kept on hand was open at the top of the toilet, it’s contents strewn all over the place. There was gauze seeped through with blood littering the sink.

You stood in front of it, in nothing but your underwear, gritting your teeth as you finished sewing up the gash in your shoulder created by the dreaded ninja star. You swallowed back any nausea  from the pain and bit back a whimper as the needle and thread went through your skin one last time. When your work was done, you put a bandage over it. You heaved a heavy sigh, the aches on your body protesting with the action.

There were other cuts on your face and stomach, but they were minor, unrequiring of stitches, just tape. You had been used to the bruises on your face, but this time they were more prominent and brutal than any you’ve had before. When you looked at yourself in the full length mirror on the door, you could see the dark purple splotches over the right side of your rib cage. Courtesy of the punches and kicks you received. Now, you could barely breathe without wincing in pain.  From what you could tell, nothing was broken, at the least.

You could still feel the weight of last night’s fight. In your muscles, bones, soul , and mind. Not to mention that you were exhausted. At this point, it was getting closer and closer to dawn and you still haven’t had a wink of sleep.

You washed the blood off your fingers and cleaned up the bathroom before heading out into your bedroom and changed into pajamas, careful not to hurt yourself. You realized that this was going to be a much harder thing to hide, let alone make an excuse for. Luckily, you had the day off, so there was no worry about questions from your family or your coworkers at the high school. You’d have time for all of this to heal even at least a smidge.

Your “uniform” was strewn on the floor and the bed. You had been eager to get out of it after everything. There were a few holes in it now that you would certainly have to patch up later. On the dresser, was something new. Something you had taken for yourself after finding it on the rooftop. You padded over, bare feet over wood, and carefully slid the flat piece of metal in between two fingers. The six pointed ninja star.

You had thrown a few of those when your brothers had taught you how. Back before you switched them out for knives. Now, you carefully put your index finger on one of the points, testing out its sharpness. In stillness it didn’t draw any blood, but at the right speed it can embed itself into flesh. You would know, you were on the receiving end a few hours before and a scar would surely be there to remind you of it forever.

Lucky for you, you didn’t mind. Scars were something you anticipated with the job, and you always saw them as badass. In your eyes, they told story. It was a visible way of showing that you survived something and came back with thicker skin. Literally and figuratively.

You passed the star in between your hands.

Needless to say, it was the craziest night shift of your life. Not to mention that you basically got your ass kicked. You didn’t like it. You were used to being in control and having the upper hand, but this time it clearly wasn’t the case. Even though you managed to hold your own fairly well, you were still outmatched. In fighting skills and in knowledge of anything going on.

Fucking ninjas. How? Why?

And the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

He had been outmatched as well. Who knows how that all would have ended had you not shown up. You could only hope that he was alive somewhere. Part of you wishes that you could run into him again if only to ask him all the questions that you had, because you had no doubt that he’d have answers.

But if you ever did run into him again, who was to say that those ninjas wouldn’t be trailing him once again? Or that they’d end up following you somehow? They had let you live once, but you weren’t so sure they would do it again. You’d have your ass handed to you once again, or worse, you’d end up dead.

You clenched your teeth at the thought.

In the span of a few seconds, you lifted uninjured your arm high above your head with the weapon in your hand. In a fast movement you brought it halfway down and with a flick of your wrist you let the blade fly. It spun in a fast motion before landing with a thud into the wall of your bedroom.

No. You couldn’t let that happen.

You had to find a way to beat them in a fight and the only way to do that is to train again. The moves your brothers had taught you were no longer enough. You had to learn something else, be stronger, get better.

Yes, you were a teacher. Yes, you also worked at a bakery. But that wasn’t all you were. Not anymore. You were much, much more than that.

* * *

 

Matt sat on the couch of his apartment. He was shirtless, in nothing but sweatpants as his friend Claire Temple placed a bandage on his chest. He had taken a katana there just before getting pushed off the roof. Lucky for him he had a friend with superior nursing skills who was kind enough to come over and patch him up. He probably would have bled to death in a dumpster a long time ago had it not been for Claire.

Funnily enough, it was a dumpster that saved his life this time. When he was thrown off the roof of the building, he landed on a cushion of stinking trash bags. The smell was overwhelming, but he didn’t complain, of course.

He had still been weak, in a daze from the fall, and he was sure that the men would come after him. Matt prepared himself for it. However, within minutes there was no sign of them. Not a single sound or sign that they were around. Not that he could barely tell when they were around to begin with. The men were so silent when they moved that he had a hard time deciphering when they were coming at him even with his enhanced senses.

It wasn’t until that mystery woman came along that he was given some kind of a fighting chance. Matt prided himself in his fighting skills and being able to hold his own. He’s cheated death more than once, but he had never fought anyone like this before, so it was a blessing to have some kind of help even if at the time he wouldn’t have admitted it.

He didn’t know who she was, but by sound of her voice, he knew it was a woman. From that he could deduce who it might be. Not her real identity, but the mask.

The Viper.

The new female vigilante.

He heard her knives being thrown, but even those weren’t fast enough to fight off the others. Her fighting was good, but Matt could tell that it was nothing like the training he or the members of the Hand knew. She was by no means a professional, but still, he was impressed by the way she managed to fight them off.

She had been wounded, he knew, but it was nothing major. When he got out of the dumpster he listened in for any sign of a pulse. Thankfully, he could still hear her breathing all the way from the roof. They hadn’t killed her. She was alright. After that, Matt had left, figuring that she could get herself home now that there was no one attacking her.

“What’s got you so deep in thought?” Claire’s voice pulled Matt out of the fog of his mind.

He turned his head in her direction. He could feel her gaze on him even though he couldn’t see it. There was always worry there. Everyone always worried about Matt. No matter how many times he told her or Foggy not to, they still did.

“There was someone else on that roof,” he said.

“You mean someone other than the ninjas?”

“Yeah. It was a woman. The Viper. Have you heard of her?”

Claire gasped, a thing that was only audible to Matt.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ve heard of her. I’ve been hearing a whole lot of good from people at the hospital,” he nodded, “You’re saying she was there when you were attacked?”

“Yeah. She helped fight the others off. I’m sure she had no idea what was going on.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Only you would know exactly why a pack of ninjas just tried to kill you, Matt.”

He snorted.

“Are you going to figure out who she is?” Claire asked.

Matt furrowed his brow, “No. I, of all people know how important it is to keep your identity hidden when you’re doing this stuff. As long as she’s not killing anyone, I’ll just let her be.”

Matt wouldn’t want The Viper figuring out who he was either.

Claire peeled off her gloves and closed the first aid kit that she brought with her.

“You know, maybe you should think about teaming up with her or something.”

Matt got up from the couch, wincing slightly at the pain in his body and shook his head.

“I work alone, Claire. It’s better that way.”

He walked over to the kitchen and poured himself some water. Claire stood up and watched him from the living room, her things in hand.

“There are some things you can’t do alone, you know. And if this thing with The Hand gets worse, you’re gonna need all the help you can get.”

Matt sighed, the cool glass or clear fluid in his hand. “I’ve survived this long haven’t I?”

Claire heaved her own sigh and shook her head. “I respect what you do, Matt. I do. But don’t gamble on your life just because you don’t care what happens to you. You have people who do and who love you. Don’t forget that.”

Matt says nothing while Claire throws away her used gloves before heading to the door. She closes her hand around door knob, but then stops.

“That girl you’re seeing…Y/N, right?”

Matt perks up at  the mention of you.

“Yeah?”

“You really like her don’t you?”

Matt’s brain swims with memories of the last few dates he’s had with you. A smile breaks on his face as he remembers the kiss you gave him at the bakery and how you smelled of vanilla. It was such a stark contrast from the bloody and bruising memory of the fight.

“Yeah,” he says dreamily.

Yeah. He was really starting to like you. A lot.

“Hold on to her, Matt. I know it’s never going to be easy with what you do, but I feel like you could really use this. Don’t let her go. If you don’t listen to the other advice that I say, at least listen to that.”

Without waiting for any response, Claire turned the door knob and stepped out of the apartment before closing the door behind her. Matt listened to her leave for a few seconds before going back to his thoughts.

* * *

 

Your phone startled you awake with it’s incessant ringing. As your head shot up from the pillow, parts of your body ached, reminding you of how you got them. With a groan, you reached for your phone on the dresser.

Who the fuck could be calling right now?

Not wanting to open your eyes, you fumbled for the button to take the call and pressed the phone to you ear.

Your voice came out hoarse with sleep, “Hello?”

“Hola, Y/N.”

It was Matt’s voice. The flutter of your heart was enough to send some energy through you. You sat bolt upright, and winced at the soreness.

“Hola, Mateo,” it managed to come out somewhat flirty despite the apparent tiredness.

You opened your eyes slowly. It was still semi-dark, save for the light that came from behind the curtains.

“How was your morning?”

You smiled, “Well it started with a call from you, so I’d say it’s pretty great so far.”

He chuckled, “Well I’m glad I could make you morning. Even though it is technically noon at this point.”

You frowned and took the phone away from your face to check the time. Your eyes widened when you realized that it was in fact  past 12PM, which was much, much later than you normally woke up. Even on the weekends. You put the phone back to your ear and threw the covers off of your legs.

“Shit. I didn’t think I’d sleep in so late.”

“Was I really the one to wake you up?”

You hummed, “Yup. You’re lucky. Had you been anyone else, I would have yelled at you.”

Matt laughed and the sound made you smile.

You reached for the door but then out of the corner of your eye there was a shiny object. When you turned to look, you saw that it was the ninja star still embedded into your wall. You walked over and pulled it out of the wood. A faint ringing came from the metal when you did.

“Long night doing paperwork?” Matt asked.

You let the star clatter on your dresser where it once was.

Something like that.

“Ugh, yeah,” you complained as if you were telling the real truth, “I love my career but at times it’s the bane of my existence.”

This got another laugh out of Matt. “That makes two of us.”

You went past the living room and into the kitchen to prepare the coffee maker. Then leaned against the counter as it started to boil.

“What about you? Did you end up taking care of what you needed to at work?” you asked.

You could hear him sigh in the other line. Whatever it was, he seemed tired too.

“Yeah, I took care of it, but another problem popped up.”

You furrowed your brow, “What happened?”

“Nothing you need to worry about. Boring lawyer stuff. I’ll deal with it when the time comes.”

Part of you was unconvinced. You weren’t sure if you should worry about him or not.

“Well, you can always talk to me about anything if you need to, Matt. Okay? Even the boring lawyer stuff.”

“Thanks, Y/N. I appreciate it, really.”

The smell of coffee filled your nostrils. You went into the cabinet and took out a mug, then proceeded to serve yourself a cup of joe. The pain in your injured arm sang with the movements. Not once do you let the phone slip from your ear.

“I don’t have to come over there do I?” you smirked to yourself.

“I think it’s better if you didn’t.”

You only felt a twinge of disappointment. You wouldn’t have minded seeing Matt again, but you were getting greedy. You had already seen him a lot this week. Plus, you were sure that there was no way to easily hide the bandage on your arm.

“Not that I’m opposed to the idea,” he added, “I’d want nothing more than to see you again, but I think we both have things to take care of.”

Ain’t that the truth.

You smiled into your coffee cup, “You’re right. Maybe another day.”

When you’re not bleeding from multiple places on your body.

Matt hummed on the other end. “Well I’m happy I got to to hear your voice, Y/N.”

A blush spread across your cheeks. You liked it when he said that. He loved hearing your voice and you’ve come to realize that you liked it better than being called beautiful or pretty.

Now, after the night you just had, you were happy to hear his voice too.

“Me too, Matthew.”

* * *

 

Matt didn’t like having to keep secrets from you or the people that cared about, but it was for your own good. He knew that the less you knew about his night life, the better. Foggy and Claire knowing his identity was enough. They worried enough about him already, not to mention that he worried about them. To have you in the same position would be another agony for him.

He really would have liked to have you over. He would have gladly accepted your offer no matter how small it was, but he was all bandaged up and bruised. He knew it would prompt many questions that “I walked into a wall” would not be able to answer. On days like this, he tended to keep to himself…or go back into the proverbial ring without a care about his injuries. 

Either way, his time was spent away from prying eyes.

His goal would be to tell you one day. Maybe. That’s what he’d like, but the idea scared him to death. And not many things scared Matt Murdock. At least that’s what he told himself. The best case scenario would be to retire the mask and never have you find out in the first place, but that was just wishful thinking.

For now, he had to focus on keeping that part of himself a secret. Most importantly, he had to focus on The Hand. This hadn’t been his first encounter with them, but this was the first time that they sent ninjas. Which only meant one thing: He was getting close to something big and they didn’t like it. 

Matt had a feeling about what it was. Another human trafficking ring no doubt, or some form of slave labor involving drugs. Either way he was going to take it down.

He just hoped that The Viper was smart enough to stay out of it.


	6. Centerline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the reader develops her fighting skills and spends a lovely evening with Matt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations at the end!

During your class, you were working with Luis again. It was during one of your one on one sessions and you were just checking up on him. Growing up with poor financial situations, these kids usually faced a lot of hardships. The people who worked in this program did their best to alleviate that. **  
**

You asked him about his classes and how he was doing in them. So far, his grades were all A’s, which you were very proud of considering that he used to struggle a lot in the beginning. When you realized that he was a visual learner, you gave him the resources that he needed to get better. Ever since then, he was able to do things on his own.

“How’s your mom? Alex and Jasmine?” you asked him.

Alex and Jasmine were his little siblings. Jasmine just started high school and Alex is about to start middle school.

“Mom’s doing good. She got a new job at a factory where they make lotions and stuff. Says that she really likes it. Jasmine started learning to play the cello so she stays after school to practice. Alex is struggling with his grades, but I’m trying my best to help him while mom’s working. Other than that we’re doing pretty good right now. Well-as good as we can be.”

“That’s great, Luis.”

He smiled and nodded, looking down at his hands that were clasped on your desk. Suddenly his face brightened up.

“So, how are things going with that lawyer guy?”

You hummed in amusement at the question. There was something funny about a high school kid taking interest in your love life.

“Things are pretty great, actually. Better than great,” you said with a grin.

“How long have you guys been together, now?”

You thought about it for a second. “A little over a month now I think. Why d’you ask?”

He shrugged,“Just wondering. He’s a white guy, huh?”

“Yes. He is.”

You resisted the urge to make a face. It was a question that you were gonna have to get used to from now on. A few days ago you had finally told your mom about your relationship with Matt and she was ecstatic. She loved Matt after all. The next day you got a call from your abuelita and she brought up the subject.

“Your mama told me that you have a boyfriend now and he’s white. Is it true?”

When you confirmed it she responded with a “hmmm” and when you told her that Matt knew Spanish it was a whole different story. You could hear her voice fill with joy.

“Un abogado guero que habla espanol? Te ganaste la loteria.”

It made you fear that she might have overestimated just how much Spanish Matt knew. Thankfully they didn’t have to meet soon, even if she did ask when that would happen. No doubt your aunts were thinking the same thing.

When you told Matt about it, he just laughed.

“She seems great,” he said. “ It’s good to know I’m slowly winning the hearts of your family.”

Now, you looked at Luis and smiled. “He makes me happy.”

“You seem happy, Ms. Y/L/N.”

If there was anything that was true, it was that. Your vigilante work might get crazy, but you were still pretty content with every other aspect of you life. Matt had a lot to do with that. Before him you didn’t have too many friends. Now you had him, Karen, and Foggy.  If you were feeling shitty there was always Matt to call or to go see when you could. He always managed to brighten up your day.

You smiled thinking about it, but then you realized that you were still very much at work and needed to focus on that. You could have conversations with the students but it was better to keep it about them rather than yourself. You changed the subject.

“Anything else new? Nothing that’s bothering you?”

His expression was pensive. He was racking his brain to think of something.

“A girl in my class went missing the other day,” he said somberly.

You heart contracted at the news. You had heard about it the other day. A girl went missing while out at the movie theatre with some friends. She had forgotten her jacket inside and went inside to get it, but she never came back out. Someone who was already inside must have grabbed her.

“That was your classmate?”

“Yeah. Her name was Giselle. We didn’t talk too much, but she had a lot of friends. It’s crazy how people can just disappear you know?”

“Yeah…”

“Shit like that happens all the time in neighborhoods like ours, but the police never really do anything about it. Not unless the person who’s missing is white.”

You purse your lips. It was the sad truth about missing persons cases, the people missing rarely ever got found. Rather, the effort to find them was rarely put into it. You were already thinking of what your alter ego could do. Whether or not you’d be able to scavenge the city for Giselle and the many other kids that have gone missing. Still, as a teacher, you had to remain hopeful for the law.

You reached out a hand and put it on top of his. “Don’t worry about it too much. You never know, maybe they’ll actually find her. In the meantime, worry about your own family, okay?”

He nodded slowly, “Okay.”

 

* * *

Sweat dripped down the side of your face and it glistened on your chest that was rising and falling from your heavy breathing. Pieces of your hair had started to come out of the braid it was in and were now sticking to your forehead. You walked off of the training mat, took your water bottle off of the floor and practically drank the whole thing.

This was one of the many training sessions you’ve had since that night with the ninjas. You were too impatient to wait another day to better your fighting skills, so you signed up the day after. You had found a private instructor who could teach you various fighting styles and martial arts. 

Every session you’d rotate between different things, from Boxing, Muay Thai, Krav Maga, but most importantly….Wing Chun. Wing Chun was the one you worked on the most and that you needed to learn. It was all about control and discipline, as most martial arts were, but also balance.

You had practiced karate and knife throwing, but your personal favorite was Krav Maga. It was something you had taken up in college. It’s more brutal and uses moves that are banned in other fighting styles (groin kicks, joint brakes, throat rakes, etc.). It was less disciplined to say the least, but very useful in street fighting. However, after getting your ass kicked by people that were more skilled than you, you realized that you needed to step up your game. If discipline was going to help with that, then so be it.   .

Pero chinga su madre, your body hurt in places you never thought could hurt.

“You’re getting better,” your sensei said, “You just need to remember to attack at the same time that you block. The more you remember, the faster you’ll get, and the better you’ll be. And don’t forget….”

“Keep my centerline,” you finished for him.

“That’s right.”

You wiped your face with your towel and leaned against the wall of the private room. It was definitely a whole other ballpark. It reminded you of ballet. How the dancers have to maintain the same posture while doing all these crazy, intricate moves. You have to go against your body’s protests of pain in order to get it perfect.  Sooner or later your body conforms and you’re able to do it all naturally. You just hoped you’d get there soon enough.

“Don’t beat yourself up, Y/N,” Stephen came over and put a hand on your shoulder. “I’d be surprised if you learned it this quickly. There’s no need to rush. You’re doing great, okay?”

You smiled at him, “Thanks, Stephen.”

“Besides, you’re already a great fighter. If anyone were to cross you, they wouldn’t stand a chance,” he smirked and clapped your back.

All you did was nod.

_If only he knew._

* * *

On your way back up to your apartment, you stopped to get the mail. You sifted through it, ignoring the bills and propaganda, when you then came across and turquoise envelope. Your name and address were handwritten in girly writing. In the top left corner was the return address and your face brightened at the names above it.

Hector and Alicia Y/L/N. Your oldest brother and your sister in law.

When you got into your apartment you set everything down except that envelope. You carefully ripped it open pulled out what was inside. It was a very colorful and glossy piece of cardstock with superheroes on it (the Avengers to be exact, you almost rolled your eyes). Written on it was an invitation to Theo and Dayanara’s 6th birthday party which was in a month. They were your brother’s twins and you loved them dearly..

You smiled at the thought of them all. They lived in Brooklyn now, so you didn’t see them as often as you could, but Alicia would bring the kids to the bakery any time that she could. Hector worked 9 to 5 as an electrician, so you rarely got to see him at all. Now, you had a reason to see him as well as your other brother, Diego, who worked in the same company as Hector.

You set down the invitation and headed over to take a shower, but just as you took a step, your phone rang. It was your mom.

“Ey, ma.”

“Ey, como esta mi nina?”

“I’m good, ma. I just got home. Y ustedes?”

“Oh good. We’re good over here. It was very busy at the bakery earlier. You know how it is.”

You chuckled, “Yeah I do.”

“Anyway, I wanted to ask you…Did you get the invitation to the twins’ party?”

You raised your eyebrows high. Once again, it never failed to surprised you how your you mom seemed to know everything. Talk about timing.

“Si, I just opened it actually.”

“Ah, que bueno. You’re gonna go, right?”

“Of course, ma. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Nunca se sabe. A veces estas tan ocupada que ni oportunidad das para hacer planes.”

You narrowed your eyes and pursed your lips, “You know I never miss the family parties.”

“Well, you got that right,” she said and the paused. “Vas a traer a Mateo?”

Your eyes widened at the thought. You had only just gotten the invitation after all.

“Bring Matt? Why would I bring Matt?”

“Because he’s your boyfriend, that’s why. You’d finally have a date to a party. And it could be good for your abuela to see you with someone.”

“I literally just told you about us and now you want the entire family to meet him? No.”

“Andale no seas sangrona. You haven’t even thought about it. What if he wants to go?”

“To a kids party? I doubt it.”

Plus he was always busy with his law firm, taking on cases, and doing paperwork. Besides…

“I’m not going to subject him to your guy’s questions this early in the relationship. And you know how protective Hector and Diego can be. Lo van a querer madrear.”

They’d threaten to kick his ass and they could to it too with their experience. Although it wasn’t like yours (but they didn’t know that).

“You know that that’s how they joke around. They don’t mean anything by it,” you could sense her waving it off with her hand.

“I don’t know, ma…”

You were just scared of ruining it. What if you scared him off with the invitation? And even so, what if he met your family and thought it was too much? There was a reason you didn’t invite any of your past boyfriends to meet your family, and it was a good thing too considering that none of them lasted. But you never even considered it a possibility with those other guys. With Matt…it was different. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t think about it.

“Just think about it. Ask him. He’s a great man, Y/N. Your dad and I already love him, you know that.”

That was true.

“Okay,” you sighed, “I’ll ask him.”

* * *

And what a better opportunity to ask him than on a dinner date?

Whenever the two of you went out, you always ended up eating together, and you loved it. But one day you suggested making him one of your mother’s recipes for dinner. He took you up on the offer and low and behold, the two of you set a date for it. You were going to go to his apartment and cook him arroz and pollo con mole rojo (mexican rice and chicken with red sauce). If there was anything that you retained from your mother’s teachings, it was how to cook a decent meal. You just never cooked for anyone else until now.

You arrived to the door of Matt’s apartment with two bags full of groceries. When he opened the door, he was in a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and pants. He still had his red glasses on, so you couldn’t see his green eyes, but you probably wouldn’t be able to see them anyway considering that the apartment behind him was dark.

He smiled, knowing that it was you at the door.

“Hiya, stranger,” you said.

“Hiya back,” he returned and then stepped aside to let you in. “Please, come in.”

You obliged and stepped over the threshold and into his apartment. You had been there once before, but only very briefly. Although you noticed the big jumbotron through the window immediately. It was perfect for Matt since he couldn’t bother him.

The paper bags holding the groceries crinkled when you moved in to kiss Matt on the lips. He looked at you weird when you pulled away.

“What do you have there?”

“Groceries to make dinner.”

“You could have asked. Maybe I have something you needed.”

You walked over to the kitchen to set everything down on the counter with a groan. You muscles were still incredibly sore

A smirk curled your lips, “Something tells me that you don’t have much in your fridge to begin with, let alone what I need.”

Matt never cooked and so you were sure his fridge was mostly stocked with fast and easy food (and beer).

Matt chuckled, “Can’t argue with that. Did you need help with those bags? Sounded like you had a hard time there.”

“No, I’m just incredibly sore. I decided to try a workout for the first time in forever and I’m already regretting it,” it was scary how easily the lie came out.

You flipped the switch to turn the kitchen light on so you could work better. When you turned to Matt it was then that you got a good look at him. Your happy demeanor was traded for a frown and your heart contracted. Matt had a fading bruise on his cheek that you had never seen before.

As if noticing this change, Matt frowned too and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Your face…what happened?”

You stepped towards him in swift movements to get a better look at him. You fingers grazed the purple splotch on his cheek. Did someone hurt him? Would someone do that? Hurt a blind man? Considering that you both lived in a place like Hell’s Kitchen, it wouldn’t completely surprise you.

His face relaxed a little even though you were the opposite. “Oh..that. It’s nothing, Y/N. Don’t worry about it.”

“Did someone hurt you?” you voiced your worries.

If they did you’d make sure to find them and kick their ass.

Matt took your hand away from his face and held it in his own.

“Nobody hurt me, sweetheart. Alright? I’m a blind man and sometimes I run into things. This time it was cabinet door. Wasn’t my best moment, but hey, it happens,” he grinned guiltily.

You eyed him for a bit to see if he was telling the truth, but you figured he was so you relaxed. There was no point in dwelling on something that was probably nothing.

“I know you’re not made of glass, but please be more careful, Matthew,” you said while resting your other hands on his arms.

His own hands came to rest on your waist before leaning in a kissing you on the forehead.

“I’ll try my best.”

You pulled him in for a hug and wrapped your arms around his middle since you didn’t get a chance with the bags in hand. He folded his arms around you and sighed.  You both stayed in each other’s hold for a few seconds before Matt took a deep breath and took a step back. He was smiling once again.

“So, what are you making for us today?”

You perked up, remembering that you had a dinner to make. As you took out the ingredients, you explained to Matt what you were going to make. He sounded excited about the whole thing. Luckily he had pots and pans that you could use, although most of them had gathered dust so you had to wash them. While you started cooking, music played in the background. Matt stood by, drinking a beer and listening to you. You tried your best to keep talking while you worked, because you knew that Matt liked hearing your voice.

You offered to let him help with something, but he just shook his head and said, “I’m just gonna leave it all to you or else I’ll ruin it. The last time I tried to cook I burned the whole thing and not just because I’m blind. I guess cooking isn’t my thing.”

You giggled, “Luckily you have me.”

He put his arm around you and grinned, “That I do.”

When the food was finally done, the two of you sat down on the couch to eat. You watched Matt expectantly as he took a bite of what you made. You really hoped that he liked it.

He made a noise of content, “This is fantastic, Y/N, wow.”

Your heart fluttered and you smiled, “Really? You’re not lying to me now, are you Murdock?”

“No, I’m being serious,” he said after swallowing.

You smiled wide to yourself.

You forked through your own food a bit. “It’s my mom’s recipe. I’ll make sure to let her know that you love it.”

Lord knows she’d be ecstatic.

“Please, do,” he nodded.

You were incredibly happy. You never realized how much you’d love doing this, doing such a domestic thing like cooking. But it brought you joy to share something from your culture with Matt and to spend some time by yourselves, truly by yourselves instead of in a crowded restaurant.

It was just the two of you sitting side by side on Matt’s couch while the light from the jumbotron came in through the window. Your boyfriend kept a hand on your thigh whenever he wasn’t using it to hold his fork. It was like he wanted to feel you there and you didn’t mind one bit.

When you were both done, you set the plates on the coffee table and leaned back against the couch with a sigh.

“How was it?” you asked.

“I loved it. I wouldn’t mind having you cook here more often.”

You wrapped your fingers lightly around Matt’s arm and put your chin on his shoulder.

“Be careful what you wish for, Matty, because I just might keeping coming here and you’ll get sick of me.”

He laughed softly and then looked at you. “I don’t think I could ever get sick of you, Y/N.”

“Hmmm,” you tried to sound unconvinced.

Sometimes you wondered how you got so lucky. Half of the time it scared you, but the other happy you just accepted it as it was - something that you deserved. Your mom was right, he was great.

You leaned in and brought your lips to his in a soft kiss. When you pulled back, you were nose to nose, smiling at each other. Suddenly you remembered what you were going to ask him and you deflated a little.

You sat back against the couch, your hand still on Matt and his hand still on your thigh. His thumb occasionally brushed back and forth against you.

Having spent this time together, it made you think more positively about having him at your niece and nephew’s birthday party. You knew that you’d want nothing more than to have him there, by your side. Matt always seemed to take a genuine interest in your life, so why would this be any different? Even though part of you still thought this was too early. Would it be too much for him?

“Is something wrong?” Matt asked abruptly.

You hadn’t even realized that you had been squeezing his arm a little tighter than normal while you were in thought. You let him go and dropped your hand to rest on top of his.

“Sorry, I was just thinking,” you said.

“About what?”

You took a deep breath and twisted your body so you were facing him better. “I wanted to ask you something. But you’re totally free to say no.”

He furrowed his brow, clearly put off by the mystery.

“Okay…I’m listening.”

“So, there’s going to be a party next month for my niece and nephew who are turning six. My whole family is gonna be there. My parents, my brothers, my grandma, the whole shebang. There’ll be more food like the kind that I made, and cake…”

You paused but Matt didn’t say anything, Instead he listened intently, so you continued on with the question.

“And I was wondering…if maybe you wanted to go with me?”

He raised his eyebrows and you weren’t sure if it was in a positive or a negative way.

“You want me to be your date to the party?”

“Yes,” you said with finality.

He nodded as if in understanding, but didn’t give an immediate answer. You took this as your cue to say something.

“I know it must be kind of overwhelming to think about meeting someone’s family for the first time, so I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to go. You could always meet them some other time in the future. I know you’re also busy with work and-”

“Was this your mom’s idea or yours?” he had a faint smile on his face, like he was amused by your blabbering. You would have narrowed your eyes if he could see.

“It was my mom’s but now that I think about it, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have you there. Even if you don’t stay the entire time.”

His smile widened before finally saying, “Okay, I’ll go with you.”

Now it was your turn to raise your eyebrows in surprise. “Really? But I haven’t even told you the exact date yet.”

“It doesn’t matter. You let me know when it is and I’ll make sure to clear my schedule. I’d love to spend some time with you and your family.”

You damn near swooned and you liked to think that you weren’t the type of girl to swoon over a guy. Then again, there were a lot of things you thought were true about yourself only to have Matt come along and made you rethink everything.

“Okay, but I should warn you, Mexican families can be loud and overwhelming at times.”

“Okay.”

“Is that alright with you?”

He giggled at your worry, “Yes, babe, as long as I’m with you to make sure I don’t run into more furniture I think I can manage.”

“I’ve just never taken a guy to meet my family, okay? Especially not someone who’s-”

“White? Blind? Dashingly handsome?” he smirked.

You snorted, “Something like that. Not that their opinion matters, but…”

“But you care,” he finished for you.

You made a noise that indicated “yes”. It was the ugly truth.

Matt took his hand from your thigh and wrapped his arm around your shoulder to pull you into him. When you looked up at him you faces were close.

“Y/N, they’re your family or course you care,” he said, “I’m not used to large families. I mean it was just me and my dad and then I’ve been an orphan for most of my life. But I’ll try my damn best to make a good impression.”

You caressed his cheek down to his jaw, the stubble was rough under your fingertips. You were in awe of the man in front of you. How was he real?

You kissed him hard on the lips, but quick. “You’re the best, you know that?”

“I would hope so, otherwise I’d question why you’re dating me.”

You laughed and lightly smacked him in the arm.

“You know, you’re gonna have to practice your Spanish more, Matty.”

“Will you be my teacher?” he asked.

“Of course. Who else?” you grinned.

“In that case…con mucho gusto, senorita Y/L/N.”

 

* * *

Needless to say, keeping your deep dark secrets only got harder for the both of you from there on out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> “Guero” = white guy
> 
> “Chinga su madre” = “Fucking hell” (you do not want the direct translation)
> 
> “Un abogado guero que habla espanol? Te ganaste la loteria.” = “A lawyer that speaks Spanish? You won the lottery.”
> 
> “Ey, como esta mi nina?” = “Hey, how is my little girl?”
> 
> “Y ustedes?” = “And you guys?”
> 
> “Nunca se sabe. A veces estas tan ocupada que ni oportunidad das para hacer planes.” = “You never know. Sometimes you’re so busy that you barely give an opportunity to make plans.”
> 
> “Andale no seas sangrona.” = “Come on, don’t be a pain in the neck.”


	7. Missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things finally start to get interesting and things take a turn.

“What’s your favorite song to listen to in Spanish?” Matt asked.

The both of you strolled down the sidewalk with your destination being his office. You had just had a morning coffee date and you decided to accompany him to work before leaving for yours. Not that he needed it, but you really wanted to spend the extra time with him. Even if it meant waking up early after a long night.

He held on to your elbow with one hand and used his cane with the other. At this point you had grown accustomed to the occasional stares. Even though they did piss you off from time to time. Just because someone was blind didn’t give anyone the right to ogle.

Plus I’m right here, Jackass.

You focused on the question at hand, humming as you thought carefully about your choice.

“There’s just so many that I love, ugh. New or old school?”

“Old school.”

You smiled wide, “I think….’Me Vale’ by this band called Maná. My cousins and I used to blast it all the time.”

“How does it go?”

You giggled as you started to sing part of the pre chorus in a low voice, “Me vale lo que piensen, hablen de mi. Es mi vida y yo soy asi. Me vale lo que piensen, hablen de mi. Es mi vida y yo soy asi,” you then went ahead into the chorus, “Porque me vale, vale. Me vale todo. Si no me entienden o comprenden, pues ya ni modo!”

“Is that a rock song?”

“Yup.”

“I like it,” he smiled, “What does ‘me vale’ mean again?”

You laughed endearingly, “It means ‘I don’t care’ or ‘I don’t give a shit’”

He made a noise of understanding, “So young Y/N didn’t give a shit about what other people thought of her?”

“She at least pretended to.”

“What about now?”

“Now, I really don’t give a shit about what people think about me. If I did, I wouldn’t be doing most of the things I do now.”

_Especially those I keep secret._

“I really like that about you, Y/N, and I’m not just saying that,” the corners of his mouth curved into a smile.

You blushed like a maniac. You were thankful that he couldn’t see it.

“Thank you, Matty,” you said genuinely. “You should repeat that in front of my mom. She swore I’d never find a man with my attitude.”

“Well, she was wrong.”

You stopped walked and turned to look at him, to take him in. He really was real, wasn’t he? A 5 o’clock shadow peppered his jaw. Although there was a small bruise still fading on his cheek, he still looked good.

“What?” he asked.

You leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

“You’re so sweet to me, Matthew Murdock.”

“Gotta keep you around somehow,” he grinned lopsided and adorable.

You continued your step.

“So, what about you? Are there any songs you like in Spanish?”

“I don’t think know enough of them to have a favorite,” he shrugged.

“Hmmm. Guess I’ll have to find you one.”

When you finally reached Nelson & Murdock, you were ready to part ways, but Matt stopped you.

“Why don’t you can come in and say ‘Hi’ to Foggy and Karen?”

You smirked at him even though he couldn’t see it. “Is that really why you want me to come in or do you just not want me to leave?”

He scoffed, “You know that I would never want to keep you from any work that you have.”

“But you don’t want me to leave.”

“Yeah that’s about right.”

You giggled and kissed him at the corner of his mouth. “You’re a sap at heart, Murdock.”

He smiled a wide smile that made your heart melt. If you were honest, you were becoming more of a sap too, now that you were with Matt. Sometimes you wanted to roll your eyes at yourself, but you just couldn’t help it. You were falling for him and falling hard. It was frightening and exciting at the same time.

You pouted when you looked at your phone for the time. You didn’t have the minutes to spare.

“I’d love to, but I’m running late as it is. Maybe next time? Or, if you want I can bring pan dulce to the office after work.”

He frowned, but then grinned at the positive news. “I’m sure Foggy would love that.”

You chuckled, “Oh I know he would.”

You leaned in and gave him a sweet, lingering kiss.

“See you soon?”

“I always look forward to it.”

* * *

 

Matt closed the door behind him and received happy greetings from both of his good friends.

“And so he arrives from his coffee date,” Foggy announces. “How was it?”

As he hangs up his jacket Matt says with a smile, “Good. As always.”

“How is Y/N?” Karen asked.

“She’s doing great. She says ‘hi’ and that she wants to stop by with some pan dulce later.”

Foggy’s face lit up and Matt could tell by the rapid excitement in his heart. “Yes!”

Matt laughed at his friend’s dorkiness.

“I swear, Matt, if you don’t marry her I will,” his friend added.

Matt scoffed, “As if you’d stand a chance with a woman like, Y/N.”

“What do you mean? I totally would!”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Karen shook her head.

“Why not? This is because Matt’s hotter than me, isn’t it?”

“It’s many things, Foggy,” Karen said as she sorted through some files.

“She’d kick your ass for saying half of the shit you do, for one.”

“No she wouldn’t.”

“Yes, she would,” the other two answered at the same time.

“Okay, you’re probably right.”

Matt shook his head as he sauntered over to his office. He could hear Foggy harrumph in the other room.

“How are things between the two of you anyway?” he asked loudly.

“They’re wonderful, actually. Couldn’t be better,” Matt grinned to himself, as he thought about you and the time you’ve spent together.

“Would you say things are getting serious?”

Matt sat in his office chair and reclined back into it. Serious? He wasn’t sure if he had ever gotten “serious” with a girl before, not truly. There was only one other woman who came close, but she was long gone, and she wasn’t you.

“I guess if you call meeting her family serious,” he said.

There was a gasp from Karen. Both of their heartbeats quickened from the other room.

“Wait, what?” they both exclaimed

Matt sensed them scrambling before heading over to his office. They squeezed in through the doorway. He couldn’t see it, but Matt knew that they had very goofy smiles on their faces.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“You’re meeting…her family?” Karen asked.

“Like…people who besides her parents?” Foggy added.

“Yeah. She invited me to her niece and nephew’s birthday party and her family is going to be there. I said I’d go.”

They both stayed silent and Matt furrowed his brow at the lack of response.

“What’s the big deal?”

“What you do mean ‘What’s the big deal’?” Foggy was flabbergasted, “Matt, in the entire time that I’ve known you, you’ve never been able to get serious with a girl. It’s been flings and one night stands and a whole lot of complicated. Not once did you get close to meeting any of their parents.”

“Well, I did meet her parents before I met her, so it’s not that crazy.”

“You’re right, but that’s not the point.”

Yes, Matt didn’t exactly have the best luck when it came to women. Sure, he was great at attracting them with ease and sleeping with them, but it usually never went beyond that. Even with the relationships that were more than one night stands, he always managed to fuck it up somehow. It was usually his nightlife or issues that got in the way. Not to mention the secretiveness.

But for some reason none of that seemed to get in the way with what he had with you. You had your own complications and issues that made you, you, so you had an understanding for his own. If his nights of patrolling Hell’s Kitchen made him unavailable to go out with you at night, it never seemed to bother you. Sometimes he wondered how he got so lucky or what he did to deserve you, because god knew that what he did at night was questionable at best.

Foggy and Karen kept asking Matt questions about the party, but there was only so much he could answer considering that he wasn’t sure what to expect. You had given him warnings about how intense your family could be, but he didn’t let that scare him away. It just gave him another opportunity to learn more about you, to hear you in an environment that you grew up in.

When they finally stopped talking, Karen went back to work. Matt was happy to finally have a moment to himself, but the clear sound of a familiar heartbeat told him that Foggy hadn’t left the room. He closed the door this time, so only Matt could hear what he was about to say. Matt could already sense what the conversation was going to be about.

“Have you told her already?” he whispered.

Did Claire and Foggy talk or something?

“You mean….about my other job?” Matt asked in a low voice.

“Yes, Matt. What else?”

The brunette lawyer sighed heavily. Conversations about this topic with Foggy never really ended well. His friend always wanted him to stop his ways and retire the suit despite Matt’s adamance about it all. The Daredevil was part of who he was and he wasn’t going to change himself.

Still, he couldn’t help but mull over the fact that he had thought about this particular topic a lot…telling you about it.

“No,” he admitted somberly.

There was a sound of frustration from Foggy.

“Are you kidding me, Matty? Things are getting serious between the two of you and she has no idea what you do at night? Where does she think you go? Where does she think you get your bruises?”

“So far, she’s buying into the lies,” when he said that, he cringed. He hated having to lie to you. It was easier to lie to Foggy and Karen than to you.

“Saying you run into things is only going to get you so far, Matt. What’s going to happen when she finds you bleeding in your apartment like I did? Or worse. What if you die and that’s when she finds out that her boyfriend was a fucking vigilante in a red suit?” Foggy spoke in a sharp whisper.

“Foggy…I can’t…” Matt said it but it was weaker than usual.

It pained him, but it was true. He couldn’t. Not right now. Not with The Hand on his tail and not when he was busy uncovering more of the vile things they were hiding. If they found out who he was and then found out who he cared about, then he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he lost you because of it.

“Trust me, Foggy,” Matt said more confidently. “This is for her own good. One day I’ll tell her, but…..not yet.”

But even Matt was unsure of that statement.

* * *

 

When class started and everyone was seated for the announcements and role at the beginning of class, you couldn’t help but sense that something was missing, something was wrong.

What was it?

You scanned the classroom of young teenage faces, some students were sitting up straight and others were slumped in their seats. You looked at each face as Mr. Mejilla, or Oscar, called out their names and the corresponding student responded with “Here”. It wasn’t until a particular name was called that you realized what was off.

“Luis Ramos,” and then without bothering to wait for an answer he said, “Is not here.”

You frowned. Luis was always at school. He had a damn near perfect attendance. Was he sick?

You waited for him to finish with role and for the kids to get to work to ask Mejilla about Luis. You walked up to his desk and spoke to him in a low voice.

“Oscar, is everything alright with Luis? Is he out sick?”

He furrowed his brow, “You didn’t hear?”

Dread filled you chest a little. Oh god. “Hear what?”

He looked around to make sure that no one else was listening before answering your question.

“His little sister went missing last night. She was supposed to come home after violin practice, but she never did.”

Your heart sank. Oh no, not another one. Jasmine was Luis’s little sister. He loved both of his little siblings so much and you knew he would do anything to protect them. You could only imagine how he must be feeling right now or worse…his mother.

“He got an excused absence and stayed with his mom for the day,” Hector finished.

You let out a breath and sat down on the chair on the other side of his desk.

“That’s terrible.”

“I know.”

Another one. Another face to add to the list of missing girls in this city. The last time it was Luis’s classmate, before that was a homeless girl you used to see on the street and before that was another one. Another missing persons case that would never get solved or worse, a case where they’d find them dead at the bottom of the Hudson in the end.

“You know, they say that after 48 hours, the likelihood of finding someone gets harder. The survival rate even goes down,” his face was grim when he said this.

You felt sick to your stomach.

How could this still be happening? It wasn’t fair that any of this was happening. The terrible thing was that so many people in your neighborhood accept this as things that happen, as something normal, but it shouldn’t be that way. It should never be that way.

* * *

 

At around 8pm, there was a knock on the door of the office of the avocados at law.

Karen furrowed her brow, “Who is it?”

But Matt already knew. Not just because he already knew she was coming, but because he could sense her presence from the minute she stepped into the building. The beat of her heart, the smell of her flowery perfume and shea butter scented shampoo, and the sound of her familiar movements. He spent enough time with her to recognize when she was near.

Not to mention the sweet smell of conchas was also a very strong indication.

“I think it’s Y/N,” Matt said.

Karen smiled and Foggy gasped. No doubt excited about the prospect of dessert. Karen got up and opened the door in a flash. On the other side was Y/N, carrying a large pink box full of Mexican pastries.

“Y/N, hey!”

The y/e/c eyed girl smiled, “Hey, Karen!”

Karen closed the door as the other woman stepped inside. The two exchanged a hug.

“How have you been?” Karen asked.

“Good. Everything’s been going pretty well so far.”

Although she said it with a happy tone, Matt could hear her voice falter and her heartbeat change a little when she said it. Matt frowned a little. Was something wrong?

“That’s great!” Karen said, convinced and unaware of what Matt was aware of.

“Y/N! Did you bring those just for me? How sweet of you,” Foggy said with a hand over his heart in mock endearment. He reached for the box, “I’ll just take those off your hands and take them into my office.”

Y/N swatted his hands away with one hand while she held the box in her other arm.

“Nuh uh. Ni se te ocurre. Don’t even think about it,” she said sternly.

Matt chuckled, “Yeah, Foggy. They’re all for me. Didn’t I tell you?”

Y/N shook her head and walked over to her boyfriend to finally greet him with a peck on the lips. He placed his hand on the small of her back and he could tell that she liked that by the sudden relaxation that went over her.

“Actually they’re for me and Karen, so joke’s on you both,” she smirked as her nose grazed Matt’s.

Foggy scoffed while Matt and Karen laughed. Y/N set down the box on Karen’s desk and everyone helped themselves to some pan dulce. Y/N grabbed a chocolate concha for herself and a strawberry one for Matt. They settled themselves on some fold out chairs next to each other.

Matt rested his a hand on her thigh as they ate. He liked the contact, to him it was the equivalent of getting a long look at her or stealing glances, which he knew he’d do if he had the ability to.

The four of them entered conversation. Karen talked about a story she was writing up and Y/N was very intrigued. Foggy told the occasional embarrassing college story where everyone would laugh, especially Y/N. Although Matt would have liked Foggy to stop, he joined in on it. He liked hearing her happy.  Even though he could still tell that something was bothering her. Especially when she talked about work.

Something must have happened.

When there was a lull in the conversation, Y/N decided it was time for her to go. Which Matt understood, although he wished she would stay longer.

After bidding the other two farewell, Matt offered to escort her out. He would have done it anyway, but he was also hoping to get some one-on-one time with her to figure out what was up. When they reached the outside of the building, he took his chance.

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it babe?” she carded her fingers through his hair.

He couldn’t exactly ask her why she seemed off without explaining how he could tell that she was, so he went for an easier question.

“How did things go at work today?”

She heaved a heavy sigh and interlocked her fingers with his.

“Honestly, not that great.”

Matt frowned, running his thumb across her skin reassuringly. “Did something happen?”

Her breathing became labored. It saddened her, whatever the subject was, hurt her.

“I have this student that I’ve gotten to know very well. His name is Luis. I always have sessions with most of the kids, but he usually comes to me outside of class too. He’s funny and super protective, but also very motivated. He has two siblings, his mom’s an immigrant, not to mention a single parent. Lower class. They deal with a lot.”

“Today, he wasn’t at school, which was weird to me because he never misses school,” she went on, but hesitated on the next part, “And I found out that it was because his little sister went missing last night. Someone must have grabbed her while she was walking home.”

Matt listened intently, his face was grim.

“And I called his mother after work to see how she was. She was in tears, broken, crying about her missing child. She had talked to the police earlier that day, and said they’d get back to her and she was just…waiting. Waiting to hear if they found her daughter, waiting for news that she might never receive. And I just….”

Her voice broke and she stopped to fight back tears. With his other hand, Matt reached up to cup her face and pull her in for a tender kiss on the forehead. She put her hand on his wrist to keep his hand there.

He’d never heard her like this, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like hearing her sad.

“I’m sorry darling. Nobody should have to go through that.”

And yet, so many people did. He knew firsthand the shit that people went through and the unfairness of it all. It’s the reason that he became a lawyer, to help defend those in need, and he knew that  it was also the reason that she went into social work. But there was only so much their regular jobs could do.

“I know,” she said, “And the thing is, she’s not the only one that’s gone missing. So many other girls in my neighborhood have and no one’s doing anything about it.”

Matt clenched his jaw and thought long and hard about that statement. He had the power to do something. If not in one way, then the other. And if girls were going missing, then it couldn’t be a coincidence in the first place. He knew better than to think that.

“I’ll see if I can do anything to help,” he said, implying that he’d use his lawyer connections and skills where he could.

Her heart fluttered with what he could assume was hope.

“Really?” she gasped.

“Really,” he answered with certainty.

Sure, Matt Murdock would do his best to help, it’s what he did, but it was also what the Daredevil did. After all, there was only so much that his regular job could do.

* * *

 

48 hours. Two whole days until Jasmine’s chance of survival was cut in half. Did her mother know that?

The phone call you had with her was enough to break you, but also set a fire within you. Determination. You were going to find Jasmine and you were going to bring her back to her family.

But what about those other girls? The others that have been going missing for months now? Were their chances of survival nonexistent? Were they already dead or were they somehow still alive? You had to hope that they were.

It couldn’t be a coincidence, right? No, The Viper knew better than to think anything a coincidence in this shady town.

There had to be something else going on here. There was something or someone was behind it. The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen was proof that it wasn’t a stretch.

Gangs, drug dealers, human traffickers, murderers, and much more resided in Hell’s Kitchen.

 _Oh._  And Ninjas. Ninjas were in Hell’s Kitchen now. Or maybe they had been here the entire time. Who knows?

Something told you that it wouldn’t be crazy to think they were involved. What were the odds of them showing up in the middle of all of this anyway? Slim to none. So they were definitely at the top of the list in terms of suspects.

But how would you even find them? How would you even know where to start?

Well, if Matt really was really willing to help with his lawyering skills, then you might have enough information to put whatever plan you could come up with in motion. You just needed a name or a location and you bet your ass that you’d be there.

Someone had to be. Someone had to get to the bottom of this. 

Was it bad that a part of you also hoped that the Daredevil wouldn’t be too far behind?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are about to get interestinggg


	8. Red & Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Karen finds you a lead in Jasmine's disappearance, both you and Matt go after it...at the same time. What'll happen if your alter ego's cross paths for the second time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Utter and total badassery happens in this chapter.

The back alley to the bar you were standing in was empty save for the dumpster that was against a brick wall. When it came to your night job you felt like all you ever spent your time around were those three things: alleys, dumpsters, and brick. Maybe even blood if you were lucky. In your time being La Vibora, you’ve come to memorize every crook and cranny in Hell’s Kitchen. 90% of the time, that included alleyways.

You stood in a shadowy corner. Ominous and dramatic, you knew, but you were waiting for someone and didn’t want to be noticed by anyone else.

Thanks to Karen and Matt, you had gotten the information you needed to help out Luis and his family find Jasmine. Sure, they weren’t police detectives, but he was a lawyer with access to files that most people didn’t and Karen was a journalist who knew just where to dig.

You were with Matt when Karen called saying that she had found something. In some files, Karen managed to find a name and face of a person that had ties to a human trafficking ring in Harlem a long time ago.

Gregory Meyer. It was never proven that he was part of the ring itself, but he did play a big part as an accomplice. He was sentenced to prison for 9 years, but had his time cut in half after he gave the police a few names. When he finally got out, he moved to Hell’s Kitchen. So far there hasn’t been any word of him doing anything shady, but his lack of activity is nothing short of suspicious.

Although it pained you to leave Matt, you came up with some excuse to leave his apartment that you were in, something about an early start in the morning. You were impatient and wanted to get out there before it was too late. Luckily, your wonderful boyfriend understood.

It didn’t take you long to track him down at Hell’s Kitchen’s most sketchy bar in town. Any and all gang members went there as did a number of other mystery creatures. When you spotted him at the corner of the street, he was smoking a cigarette. Not long after did he walk into the bar and disappear within the building reeking of liquor and sweat.

You waited on the roof for a while before going into the alley. You knew he’d come out eventually. Smokers didn’t go very long before lighting another one, so he’d be itching for a cigarette any second now. You just had to wait a bit.

Then, just as you had predicted, the backdoor opened. You could hear the sound of drunken laughter and loud music. Out into the black pavement stepped out a large man in a leather jacket. You could see his hair was auburn in the shitty lighting and he had a beard covering his jaw. He fished out a lighter and a pack of camels. As he lit one up, you took your chance.

“Those things are bad for you, you know.”

He whirled around in you direction, taking out the cigarette between his fingers. Since you were still hidden, he couldn’t see you.

“Who said that?” he asked. Rather, he demanded.

“Take a guess.”

He snorted cockily, “Can’t be that red guy. As far as I know, he doesn’t sound like chick. So I’m guessing you must be his little girlfriend. The snake.”

You rolled your eyes. Why did everyone assume that you were dating the Daredevil? Couldn’t a male and female vigilante exist without having sex?

“For your information, I am not his girlfriend. I work alone just as much as he does.”

You stepped forward into the lighting with a smug look on your face.

“But you’re right about one thing,” you said. He took another drag of the cigarette before throwing it on the ground and putting it out with the heel of his boot. “I am a snake.”

He lunged forward and threw a punch, but you dodged it with ease. You kicked out hard with your leg and luckily he was close enough to where the bottom of your boot connected with his chest and threw him off his momentum. He stumbled back with a grunt, into the wall of the dumpster that was on the other side.

He tried coming for you again with multiple punches, but you kept dodging them, ducking down and dancing around him. You jabbed at him in the ribs, but when you realized that he wasn’t going to stop, you took him down completely.

You went behind him, hugged him around his middle and kneed him in the back. You hand went to this throat, causing him to choke and then you pushed him down on the ground, flat on his back. When he tried to get up, you put your foot on his chest. Your two pronged knuckle piece glistened in the moonlight like a threat.

“You really didn’t have to do that Greg,” you tutted.

“What do you want?” he growled. “I haven’t done anything.”

“Oh, really? I’d say that first punch you threw at me says otherwise.”

“It’s not like you weren’t going to fight me anyway,” he said, “What do you want?”

“I want to know what your friends have been up to, Greg,” you spat out.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your friends? The human traffickers? Slave owners sounds more like it. Stealing kids off the streets and selling them like livestock? You went to prison for it remember?” You pushed down harder into his chest with your heel. He winced.

“I don’t do that anymore,” he gritted his teeth, “I’m on parole. Do you think I’d really risk anything like that?”

“Oh, so if you weren’t on parole, you would?” you asked, clearly disgusted.

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to,” you spat. “But no, I wouldn’t expect you to do anything while on parole, Greg. But I would expect your old friends to. Friends that maybe you didn’t give the names of to the police? Friends that maybe never got out of the job in the first place?”

“I don’t know shit, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell some bitch in a costume anything I knew.”

You took your foot off his chest and punched him full force in the side of his face. He cried out. You could see the snake bite marks oozing blood on his cheekbone. You grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and flipped him over onto his back, twisting both his arms and resting your knee into his back. You took a knife from your thigh and leaned in before placing it on his neck.

“Listen here, you sick son of a bitch. You might think serving jail time for a fraction of what you actually deserve makes everything you did okay, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t erase what you did, especially when it’s still happening here. Little girls, baby girls are going missing and I have no fucking doubt that it’s sick fucks like you that are behind it.”

You pushed the knife further into his throat, drawing blood.

“I’m going to take every single one of you down even if it’s the last thing I do and you’re going to give me everything I need to do that. If you don’t, I’ll show you just how many knives I have and how many ways I can use them.”

You leaned in closer to his ear, so he could hear you clearly.

“But if you do, I’ll let you go and you can live the rest of your sad life outside of prison. Huh? How about that?” You offered in disgust. The idea of just setting someone like him free, made you sick, but it was the one thing you could offer up to him.

He hesitated for a second, his breathing labored from you weight on him. You were going to give him some other threat, but you thought better of it. You didn’t want to make him change his mind. Not unless you had to.

He sighed, “Fine, I’ll tell you what you want.”

* * *

Gregory Meyer. That’s who Matt was looking for. There was no known address in his file, but having had experience with people like this, Matt knew that they tended to gravitate towards each other. So much so that they basically had their own bar.

That’s where he was headed.

He expected his night to end differently considering that he and Y/N were together in his apartment, but to his dismay, she had to leave earlier than expected. Although he was partially worried about her, he also took the opportunity to get things done.

He promised Y/N that he’d do whatever he could to find Jasmine, her student’s missing sister. The best lead that Karen could find was one that led to a human trafficking ring. A disgusting trade, and sadly it was very much active in parts like this. If what Y/N was right, and more than a few girls have gone missing, then the odds of it being tied to something like this wouldn’t be be pretty high.

Although, Matt had a feeling that this went deeper than men like Gregory. No, he might not be in the trade anymore, but even if he was, there’d be a higher power running it. And Matt knew exactly who that higher power was.

The Hand.

Wilson Fisk might still be in prison, but there were still members of The Hand still at large, as well as their loyal henchmen and pawns. After all, it was only recently that Matt was attacked by Gao’s men. Her trained fighters. Something was up and they weren’t happy about the Daredevil sniffing around again. Not to mention another vigilante.

The Viper.

Matt had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long before he ran into her again.

He ran across the rooftops in his red suit until he sensed the old building he was looking for. The strong smell of various kind of alcoholic drinks and cigarette smoke was enough of an indication. Rock music played from a jukebox within the bar. He could hear people going in and out, hoarse laughter from burly men all packed into the place. It was at the corner of Hell’s Kitchen, a much darker and ominous corner than the rest. If that was even possible.

He couldn’t exactly pinpoint Gregory’s location within the bar, so he’d have to wait. If his guess was correct, then the man would most likely come out for a smoke at some point. Or at least he’d have to hope. Hope and wait for god knows how long.

All he needed was something about the ring’s location or about The Hand.

But, to Matt’s dismay, someone already seemed to have beaten him to it.

There was someone in the alley, he could hear their heartbeat and their breathing. However, it wasn’t at a normal pace, it was labored and slow. The smell of blood, coppery and metallic was enough to almost taste it. Whoever it was, they were hurt in some way.

The red cladded vigilante scaled down the building he was on top of and landed on the pavement below. He stayed to the shadows, inclining his head to get a better sense of who this person was. They were on the ground, barely conscious, and the blood was coming from their face and side. Rather, his face. Based on the build, Matt could tell it was a burly man. With a sinking feeling he had a feeling who it was.

Gregory Meyer.

When the other man noticed him, he let out a low laugh.

“You’re late to the party. The bitch beat you to it.”

Matt crouched down so he was level with him.

“What bitch is that, exactly?”

“You know, the one in green. The snake. I already told her everything.”

The Viper.

“I gotta tell ya, she packs a mean punch. Especially with that thing she uses on her knuckles.”

The one that left marks like a snake bite. It was most likely the reason Gregory was bleeding from both his face and his ribs. They were small holes, four of them, and at first Matt thought they were bullet wounds, except he didn’t smell gunpowder or lead. Not to mention that they were grouped in twos, about an inch apart. Like fangs.

“What did she want, Gregory?”

The large man spit on the pavement next to him before saying, “She wanted to know about the kids. The ones that are going missing.”

Matt was taken aback. So, she was after the same thing that he was? How did she even know that Gregory had ties to it? Matt worked at his jaw. She must have had some resources of her own, good ones if they got her here just before Matt did.

She was getting good.

Matt reached forward and grabbed Gregory’s shirt and tugged him so he was closer.

“You’re going to tell me everything you told her. Down to the last detail,” he ordered.

* * *

According to Gregory Meyer, a lot of human trafficking occurred specific street, specifically an ratty motel called Bird of Paradise with a pink and blue neon sign that only worked half of the time. You wasted no time in looking for it and settling yourself across the street from it, with a clear view. You didn’t want to go in without having a clear idea of what you were dealing with.

What you noticed were a lot of large men lingering outside the rooms on the bottom floor. Some were smoking a few feet away, while others looked more like guards. Every now and then a door would open and some guy in a business suit (most likely) would come out and pay the  man outside. The thought of what went on inside put your stomach in knots.

There were girls being sold for sex and any one of them could be Luis’ sister.

You wanted to throw up at the thought of all of this, but you focused on your anger instead. You needed to tear the men of this operation in to shreds. And, essentially, that was you plan of attack. You tear them to pieces as much as you could without killing them, while also rescuing the girls inside.

You got off the roof of the building and made your way across the street. You kept the shadows, never being noticed by anyone. An old car passed by, hip hop music and there was a drunk yelling on another street corner, but still no one noticed you.

You got closer and closer to the first room at the edge of the motel. A man was standing guard at the door. He wasn’t as big as Gregory, which meant that he wouldn’t be too hard to take down. You just had to keep in mind that he might have a gun. You closed the distance between you enough so that you could lunge at him.

“Hey there big boy,” you said in a flirtatious voice.

He snapped his head towards you and his eyes widened. “What the hell?”

He reached for his gun, which was tucked into the back of his jeans, but you were too fast for him. You threw a knife into his forearm to stop him all together and he let out a cry of pain, but you cut it short with a jab to his throat. With two moves you punched him in the face and slammed his head into the wall, making him fall unconscious.

You moved quickly as another guy from two doors down came at you, gun raised. He shot twice consecutively, but you ducked down and punched him in the crotch. He doubled over and right then you kicked the gun out of his hand and it clattered into the parking lot. With another kick your foot connected with his face and he fell down next to the other man.

You could hear the others start to react and yell amongst themselves. Meanwhile, you went to the door that the first man was guarding and opened it. It wasn’t locked, probably for easy access in case something went wrong. When you stepped inside a girl screamed half naked and a man with his pants down.

You motioned to him, “Pull your pants up and get the fuck out of here.”

He didn’t hesitate a single second, clearly terrified. The girl covered herself with sheet and cowered in the corner.

Not Jasmine. But a scared girl all the same.

“I’m here to help you,” you said, although your voice was rushed. You heard footsteps coming from outside and then what sounded like a struggle. “Go to the bathroom and lock yourself in there, alright?” 

An instruction to keep her out of harm’s way while this shit storm occurred. She nodded and scurried off, but not before her wide eyes looked past you and they expanded even more.

You turned around and unleashed a knife at the figure standing by the doorway. The blade sunk into the shoulder of a blonde man with a goatee, his gun trained on you. He cried out in pain, but it wasn’t enough to hold him back. He fired a bullet and you moved to get out of its way, but you were a second too late. The piece of ammunition seared a gash into your cheek. The side of your face burned hot and you fought back a groan. Hot blood dripped down and you could feel it.

That was going to be hard to cover up with concealer.

You shot again, but you dodged that one better. You reached for a lamp that was on the neaset piece of furniture and threw it at him. It caught him off guard and was enough to shove him out the door and make him drop his weapon. You followed him out the door, into the dimly lit exterior. He still didn’t back down, and was ready to fight you hand to hand. With a swift movement you took out your baton and raised it with a fist.

There was a series of noises that you weren’t sure where they were coming from, it was a struggle, a gunshot, and then suddenly, a body dropped from the second floor onto the pavement.

_What the hell?_

You didn’t have time to process it, when the large blondie lunged at you and got a punch into your jaw. Stars danced around in your vision for a second, but you recovered quickly.

You took your baton and swung it straight at his knees, which was enough to knock him down on all fours. Just when you were about to swing at his face, a strange red object, like a whip, wrapped around his neck and pulled him. You followed the path in which he went and your jaw dropped at the sight of a man covered head to toe in red, knocking the man out with a kick.

“You?” you gasped.

* * *

Matt wound his weapon and put it back together into a baton. The Viper stared back at him, dumbfounded he could tell. She was about as surprised about his involvement in this as he was about hers.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“I’m taking down this cell and saving these girls, what does it look like?”

He almost found her tone of voice and level of sass to be amusing. Maybe because this was the first time he had heard her speak more than one word aloud. The last encounter they had all he ever heard her say was “Hey!” and “Fuck!”

“Looks like we’re after the same thing,” Matt replied.

You straightened up a little, as if intrigued.

“So you were the one responsible for  _that_?” with her head she motioned towards something on the pavement. The man Matt had thrown over the balcony not a minute before.

Matt shrugged, “He’ll survive.”

He could tell by the heartbeat and labored breathing.

She snorted, “As if I care if he lives or dies. But it was enough to distract me and almost get me squished by Ivan over here. So, thanks for that.”

She motioned to the man that had just attacked her.

Matt shook his head. “You’re welcome,” he said with little emotion and moved past her, towards the next room where he could hear two girls inside who were afraid.

He opened the door and instantly he heard, “Please don’t hurt me.”

“I’m not here to hurt you,” he said with reassuring sternness. He could smell chemicals, like hard drugs. No doubt they pumped these girls full of them to keep them from getting away.

In the next room, Viper kicked out a man that was with one of the girls. She gave her instructions to stay in the bathroom for now. A good tip to keep them from getting shot, and similar to what he told the girls he found upstairs.

It was strange. There was something familiar about her, The Viper. Not because he had encountered her before on that rooftop, but because of something else. Had he seen her somewhere else? He would have remembered. It wasn’t the way she “looked”. She had short hair from what his abilities told him and he didn’t know any women with short hair would could fight like her. Of course, she could be wearing a wig to hide her identity.

Was it her smell? No, she smelled like blood, sweat, and leather. Nobody he knew smelled like that, or at least no one that was close to him now.

He couldn’t shake it.

They walked side by side, but then Matt stopped at a sudden noise. He shot out his arm to stop her. She shot him a glare, but he ignored it.

“What is it?”

He shushed her and she opened her mouth to protest but he shushed her again.

There was crying, some screams before they’re stifled, hushed voices and then the door of a van being slid open. Four men, five girls. All towards the far end of the building.

“They’re taking them,” he said at the realization. “They’re taking as many as they can and they’re leaving.”

“What?” Her heart sank, “How do you know that?”

“I just do,” he said, before running towards the source of the noise.

Viper followed closely behind.

Was it her voice? Matt shook his head. Stop it. But her voice did sound familiar.

Can’t think about that right now.

When they reached the left end of the parking lot where a group of girls was being shoved into a van, the Viper gasped and her heartbeat quickened. He could practically feel the rage seething from her. Matt took out his batons and she took out two knives. On an unestablished cue, she marched forward and sent one of them through the air, straight into one of the gang member’s back.

At this point, Matt didn’t feel the need to worry about whether he was alive or dead. He did what he did best, and went full force at the nearest enemy. Another knife was sent out, but it hit the van after being dodged. She resorted to combat, using her snake bite as her primary weapon. She must have found satisfaction in doing so, considering that she had a baton just like he did.

There were punches, kicks, and gunfire.

Oh how Matt hated guns.

He knew how to disarm someone with one, luckily, but the bastard managed to land a bullet in his arm. Matt fell to the ground from the impact mostly rather than the pain. At this point, he was so used to getting injured that it never took him to long to get back up. He learned to deal with the pain later.

He could already sense Claire’s disapproval. Not to mention the excuse he’d have to come up with and give to Y/N.

Y/N. By her side would be a way better alternative to this. It would be a better alternative to anything. But still, he had to do this.

* * *

Thank god Matt wouldn’t be able to see the wreckage that you would be after this. Fuck these assholes and their guns and their human trafficking. You wished you were with Matt right now, but instead you were here.

You had to be here and you had to do this, because you were so close.

You had seen her, Luis’ sister. She was in that van and you just had to get to her, you had to get past these assholes and not let them take her.

Your jaw dropped at the sound of a gunshot and then Red falling to the ground. Was he dead? When you kicked a guy backwards, you moved to check on him. To your surprise, he was up and at it pretty quickly. Wherever he was shot, it must not have been too bad, or he was just used to these kinds of injuries.

Three out of five men were dancing around you and soon enough, you both were back to back. These men were by no means as skilled as the ninjas men, but they did pack a mean punch. You both took a few hits, to the ribs and face in particular. The worst and most painful places in your opinion. But they managed to work in sync, switching up targets and helping out to deliver the last blow.

You and the Daredevil were great fighting partners. Who would have thought?

“Shit,” he cursed suddenly. “We missed one.”

He charged towards the van, but he was too late. A door slammed shut, and the ignition was turned on. The break lights of the van flashed red and not a second later was it backing out.

Your blood turned to ice.

_No, no, no._

“No!” you screamed. Without thinking twice you raised your baton and ran towards the van. You were vaguely aware of the headlights turning in your direction, but didn’t care. You weren’t sure what your plan was, but you were going to do something. Emphasis on were.

Until a force knocked you down and out of the way.

You landed on your side with someone’s body on top of yours. His. Your body ached with the hardness of the ground and the wind was knocked out of you. With an angry fervor, you shoved him off.

“What the fuck did you do that for?”

* * *

Matt stood up and looked down at her, his chest heaving. “Are you insane? You were about to get run over and you’re yelling at me for saving you?”

“I was trying to stop them!” she yelled.

“Oh, yeah? You planned on stopping a 4,000 pound vehicle by yourself and what? A piece of metal?”

“I don’t know all I know is that they were getting away and I couldn’t let them, you asshole!”

Her breath hitched, she was clenching her jaw to fight back tears.

Suddenly Matt had a wave of dejavu. Who else did that?

Matt sighed and offered his hand to her, reluctantly she took it and he pulled her to her feet. Even though her reaction was a pain in the ass, he knew he felt the same way. If there was a way to climb onto that van, he would have, but he became preoccupied with making sure she didn’t get killed.

“They’re gone,” she whispered, “They’re gone and we don’t know where they could have taken them. We did all of this and we failed.”

“Hey, we didn’t fail. There’s still those girls back there, we saved them. It was still worth it.”

“I know,” she said through gritted teeth and then more calmly, “I know….but…there was a girl in that van. A girl that I was supposed to save, but I didn’t.”

Matt furrowed his brow. This all sounded way too familiar. Too familiar to be a coincidence.

“Who? Is she related to you?”

She shook her head, “No, but she’s related to someone I know.”

“What was her name?” he asked.

She took a deep breath and looked at him. “Jasmine.”

Matt blinked several times and fought to keep him composure. Thankfully his mask hid most of his face. No way in hell could that be a coincidence.

_No._

_No, it can’t be, right?_

His heart hammered in his chest and it sank deep too.

The girl, Jasmine. That name he had heard more than once these past few days.

Viper’s voice. He had thought she sounded familiar. Strip away the snarky and powerful tone of vigilante and what did you get?

_No….._

……. _Y/N?_


	9. The Impossible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Matt's heightened senses, it was only a matter of time before he figured out who you were. But, thinking that he knew you better than that, he starts to question his own abilities. He seeks the advice of a friend and does something to really determine if he's right or not. Meanwhile, you deal with your feelings and personal failure of the night that passed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit's about to hit the faaaaan

Matt licked his lips nervously. It couldn’t be her, could it? It just….it didn’t make sense. Well, based on what his heightened senses told him, it could indeed make sense, but he just couldn’t believe it. He was only going based off of her voice and a name, after all. But, it couldn’t be a coincidence that she was after the same girl that Y/N had told him about.

“How do you know this girl?” Matt asked.

“That’s none of your business, now is it?” she said defensively. “What matters is that I find her. Somehow.”

Police sirens were heard in the distance. The more Matt listened the more he could tell that they were headed this way.  It was only a matter of time before they had to head out. It seems like The Viper was thinking the same thing.

At the sound of the sirens getting closer, she straightened up and became more alert.

“Fuck, I have to get out of here,” she said in a low voice before turning to face the motel in contemplation. “The girls. Do you think they’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, they’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it,” he said truthfully.

Her eyes flew to his arm, which was still bleeding from would carved out by the bullet. It was a dull ache at this point, Matt had grown accustomed to such things, but it didn’t mean that it wasn’t making him a bit woozy. He tried to ignore it. Claire would fix it anyway.

“You gonna be good with that?”

The more concerned she sounded, the less aggressiveness was in her tone, and the less of that there was, the more she sounded like Y/N. Of course, there was less love there, less endearment. It was a general concern of stranger to stranger.

He felt like he should question her, demand that she tell him who she really was, but he knew that wouldn’t end well. He was confident in his fighting skills, but that wouldn’t stop her from putting a knife in him and leaving without him getting any answers. And if it wasn’t who he thought it was, he’d betray a newfound ally.

Besides, with the cops getting nearer, there wasn’t any time to do any of that.

“Yeah, it’s nothing I can’t handle,” he reassured her.

After a nod, she started backing away from Matt, towards wherever her destination would be.

“What are you going to do?” Matt asked her.

“I’m gonna get out of here, get cleaned up, and figure this shit out in the morning.”

Matt frowned, “By yourself? With what lead?”

She shrugged, “I have my sources, Red. I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”

Without another intent to stay, she took another step, but Matt didn’t want her to leave just yet. He was way too invested in his curiosity.

“You don’t have to do this alone, you know. We’re after the same thing after all.”

He never said to anyone, and maybe he was saying it just to get a chance at figuring her out, at figuring out who she really was. She sighed in annoyance.

“So…what? You want to team up again? I usually work alone.”

“So do I, but you have to admit, we made a pretty good team back there.”

He prided himself in getting things done on his own, but he wasn’t stupid enough to ignore the fact that they did work well together. Maybe Claire had been right. Maybe he did need someone by his side.

“Maybe, but we don’t exactly have a way to communicate do we? Unless you want to give me your name and home address so we can have a secret meeting at your place.”

Her tone oozed angry sarcasm. Matt rolled his eyes, although she couldn’t see it beyond his mask. However, she was right, there was no way to get in touch with each other. In an attempt to get something from her, he threw a half joke half serious remark.

“Not unless you want to give me yours.”

She snorted.

“Not a fucking chance. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get out of this shit hole,” her voice was still shaken although she tried to maintain calm.  “Maybe we’ll run into each other again. I hope we do.”

Matt could tell the last part was sincere. “Me too,” he answered back.

She turned back around fast, causing the hair on her head to whip around, before she turned the corner and left. A gust of wind cooled his face and it was then that a smell hit him.

Blood, sweat, and leather….and a trace of perfume. A floral scent mixed with fruit. It was elegant and young, something he had smelled before many times and enjoyed despite the times it overwhelmed him. Although this time is was faint, he could still make it out.

The pit in his stomach widened even more.

* * *

With an ache in your bones and a clenching of your teeth, you pulled yourself through the window and into your bedroom from the fire escape. Normally, it was like someone behind the camera had yelled “cut!” and you were back to your normal self, you didn’t have to act anymore. Until the next shift, things would be okay.

Except things weren’t okay and no matter how hard you tried, your ‘normal’ self still carried the burdens of your alter ego.

After slamming the window shut, you pulled off your mask, wig, and cap and threw them onto the bed. You tried taking a deep breaths, but your throat constricted at the thought of the girls you lost tonight. No, not lost…taken. But still, it was your fault. Tears stung in your eyes, but you wiped them away in anger.

_Puta madre. We were so close to saving them all. So fucking close._

To release what you felt, you reached for the nearest weapon. One by one, you unhooked every knife from yourself and threw them into the wall on the other side of the bed. They landed with a thud as you imagined each one hitting one of the men that you fought and the ones that got away.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

All in a cluster in the middle of the wall. Any others you used to have were left behind at the motel.

When you were done you let your baton clatter to the floor and set the knuckle pieces on the nightstand. With effort and the occasional wince, you stripped out of your night attire. The  jacket, the corset, the boots, the pants. It was like doing so would rid yourself of what happened, or at least most of it.

Still in your underwear, you bounded into the bathroom and turned on the shower. While the water heated up, you looked at yourself in the mirror. It was a habit of yours to take in the injuries or “souvenirs” of the night. As usual, you were a mess.

Scrapes and bruises were something you were used to by now. Your face, arms and ribs were tender with them, especially if you touched them or moved a certain way. The gash on your cheek was pretty gnarly and was still oozing blood. No doubt you’d need some stitches.

You spotted the look in your eyes, the look of anger, sadness, and tiredness, but you didn’t spare the woman in the reflection much time. Thankfully the steam fogged up the glass in your favor, telling you that the water was ready.

You stripped down bare and stepped into the tiled floor of the shower, the hot water rained down of your body. It soothed aches as well as made your open wounds sing in pain. Dirt, grime, and red blood washed down the drain, and you let the water wash down everything not visible too.

* * *

Matt couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Ever since leaving the scene at the motel, The Viper and who she could really be was all Matt could think about. Especially now that he was sitting on Claire’s couch, taking a break as she tended to the bullet wound in his arm.

He went over everything that he noticed, all of the similarities to Y/N.

Her voice.

Her mannerisms.

Her perfume.

Her connection to Jasmine.

He had to know. He had to know if it was Y/N. But…would she lie to him about something like this? Was she capable of doing the things The Viper did? Probably. If Matt was capable of the same things, how could she not?

There were not only the similarities, but the coincidences. Matt might not be able to cover up his bruises, but maybe Y/N was. There were times where she talked about being sore from going to work out, but could it have been that she was just out crime fighting like he was?

And, how crazy was it that The Viper knew who Gregory Meyer was and went after him the same night that Matt planned on doing so? Karen had to dig through files to find the lead on him, especially a lead that could have been tied to the missing girls. Only Karen, Matt, and Y/N knew about this lead as of late. Not to mention that of the said missing girls, both Y/N and the Viper had ties to one of them.  

She said she had her sources. Well, it could just be that The Viper’s sources were Matt’s sources, because the Viper’s real identity is…..

“You’re awfully serious,” Claire said randomly. “Well, more serious than usual. No trouble with Y/N I hope?”

Matt wanted to laugh at the perfect insinuation. It was a normal question to ask about his relationship, but usually when similar questions were brought up, things were always great. Now, he wasn’t so sure.

He wasn’t sure if he should voice his concerns to her.

“Matt?” she grew more worried.

Then again, Claire was about the only person who understood what Matt did. She was the only person who both knew who he was and berate him for it. She dealt with a lot of shit, so maybe she could help.

Matt took a deep breath, “I think there might be.”

“What do you mean? What happened?” she adjusted herself on the couch so she was comfortable now that she was done fixing up Matt.

“I think there’s a big chance that…..she might be hiding something from me.”

Claire frowned,“Like what?” then she gasped, “Like…an affair?”

Matt instantly shook his head with vigor, “No, no, no. Nothing like that.”

The thought made him feel uncomfortable. He wouldn’t know what he’d do if Y/N did something like that, but he knew she’d never do that. He knew her better than that.

Or so he thought.

Claire sighed in relief, but there was still clear tension in her chest and shoulders.

“Then what?”

Matt licked his lips before explaining, “You know how I told you The Viper was there today?”

She furrowed her brow, clearly wondering where he was going with this. “Yeah…seems like the two of you kicked some major ass. I told you you should have worked together in the first place……what about her?”

“Well, I couldn’t help but notice that she seemed…familiar. Too familiar.”

He proceeded to tell her everything that he noticed and everything that The Viper said that threw him in for a loop. Claire’s jaw dropped for a second, but she still maintained a level of calm.

“I mean she sounded just like her, but….not like her. Much rougher and angrier, but I could tell she wasn’t  a bad person.”

“I mean, have you heard yourself talk when you’re being a vigilante? You don’t exactly sound nice either.”

Matt’s lips quirked up in a smile for a second before getting serious again.

“Matt, do you honestly think it could be her?”

Matt shrugged, not knowing how to answer, and rubbed his face with his hands before answering, “I don’t know. Or maybe I do know and just refuse to accept it.”

“Does she act weird when you’re with her? Come up with weird excuses?”

“The excuses are all normal, like being sore because she went to the gym. Nothing like my ridiculous ones. Today was the only time that stood out to me. When Karen called with the lead, she suddenly had to go, but I ignored it.”

“Why?”

“Because I had my own business to take care of…and I didn’t think that my girlfriend, of all people, could be a vigilante. I mean, come on, Claire, what are the odds of that? What are the odds of me, a man who leads a  secret double life…to end up dating a woman who also leads a secret double life and without knowing it? You’d think I would have figured it out sooner.”

“That is pretty trippy. Maybe she’s just that good.”

“If it is her, then clearly she is. And if it is her, I don’t know whether to be proud or worried,” Matt worked his jaw for a second, thinking. “I don’t know what to do. It’s not like I can bring the subject up to Y/N, not without telling her how I know or why I’m asking her.”

“If you’re right, then it just might end up that way anyway, Matt. You knew that it would happen eventually and she would find out who you were, even when you didn’t think she was a masked vigilante.”

“I know, I just wish there was an easier way of seeing if I’m right without going to that first.”

Claire shrugged nonchalantly. “Call her.”

Matt titled his head back and looked at her weirdly. “Call her?”

“Yes, right now. Pick up the phone and call her. If she answers, then ask her what she’s doing. She gives a bullshit answer, then you know that she’s lying. If she really was out tonight, then she’d still be awake. If she wasn’t, she’d sound like she just woke up or she wouldn’t pick up at all.”

Matt raised his eyebrows at the simplicity of the idea. If it were up to him, he would have let it go for the night and dealt with it in the morning, but if Y/N really was out tonight, then she would definitely be awake. It was simple, yes, but worth a shot.

He had called Y/N many times before, enough to tell when things were off with her even when he couldn’t hear her heart rate. If Claire was right, which she often was, he’d get the answer he wanted.

Without having to ask him if he would go through with it, Claire picked up his phone and handed it to him. Matt wrapped his fingers around the square cellular device to proceeded to find Y/N’s number.

* * *

You smoothed over some tape atop of the edge of the bandage that now covered your entire right cheek. Despite feeling like complete and utter shit, you wanted to laugh at how ridiculous you looked, at the fact that there was no fucking chance in hell that you were going to be able to hide this. Even if you didn’t have the bandage, the stitches were enough of an accessory to raise question. You were going to have to find some kind of excuse ASAP.

But you really couldn’t find the energy in yourself to think of any at the moment, you’d save that for the morning. However you did manage to think about the nights events. Not just the bad, you had spent enough time in the shower beating yourself up over that. Rather, you found yourself contemplating about a certain red cladded devil.

_“You have to admit, we made a pretty good team.”_

He had been right, you surprisingly made a good partnership. Although your pride said that you could have handled things yourself, but maybe things would have ended up much worse if you tried it that way.

Suddenly, the vibration of your phone against the wooden surface of your dresser startled you back to reality. It took you a minute to register that someone was in fact calling you. What time was it? How long had you been up? It was well past midnight, wasn’t it?

_Who could be calling this late?_

You couldn’t help but think that if you had been asleep, you would have been pissed.

You stepped out from the tiled floor of the bathroom and into the wood of your bedroom. When you reached your dresser and looked down at the screen, you were taken aback, pleasantly surprised by the name that popped up.

Matt. The mere thought of him was enough to strip away most of the negativity you had weighing on you. A huge smile broke out on your face, making your newly stitched wound, sting and you winced.

You answered the phone quickly and put the device to your ear.

“Hola, mi amor. Qué haces despierto tan tarde?”

He hummed on the other end, “Buenas noches, Y/N. I, uh, I couldn’t really sleep. Got a bad case of insomnia. I, uh, I honestly didn’t expect you to pick up. I thought you’d be asleep.”

You frowned at the thought of him not having a good night, despite the one you had.

“Yeah, I was watching a show on Netflix and I guess I got a little carried away,” you lied through your teeth.

He chuckled, “Don’t you have work in the morning?”

You barred your teeth in a cringe. Work in the morning.  _En la madre_ , you almost forgot.

“Yes, I do, which means I’m going to have as shitty morning,” It was the truth, but you kept it lighthearted. “And so are you, apparently. Sorry you couldn’t sleep”

“Yeah, it’s nothing that I can’t handle,” he said a little distantly.

 _“Nothing that I can’t handle.”_ The phrase repeated in your head.

Dejavu. You shook your head from the thought. That was weird.

You went over to the bed and sat at its edge. Concern creeped it’s way into you.

“Are you okay, Matty?”

“No, yeah, I’m fine. Just tired is all,” There was a pause and then, “How was your night? You left a little abruptly earlier. Is everything alright with work?”

“Ugh, yeah. I’m sorry about that, baby. You know how work can get,” you stretched the lie as you always did, “Everything Is….as good as it can be I guess.”

He hummed again, something you found a little disconcerting.

“Are  _you_  okay, Y/N?”

You looked down at your hands, turning them over to get a look at the bruised and scraped knuckles. Every detail of the events at the motel flashed before your eyes. Every man you knocked out, every blow you took, the bullet that grazed your face, the Daredevil, kicking ass, but then ultimately watching that van drive away with those girls.

“Yeah, I’m fine, especially now that you called. I’m sorry, but also very grateful for your insomnia.”

He chuckled, “I’m glad you were awake too, because now I get to hear your voice instead of an answering machine.”

You closed your eyes and smiled to yourself, heat spreading across your cheeks.

A content noise escaped your throat despite the pain in both your face and body. You wished so badly to be by his side and just sleep in his arms, to be enveloped in his warmth and not feel like you had to worry about anything

“Do you want me to head over there? Because you know I can,” he offered.

“No, no, it’s fine,” you said maybe a little too quickly. Yes you may have wanted to be with him, but you were too much of a mess right now, a mess that he wouldn’t be able to understand. You looked at all of your gear on the bed, the floor, the wall, and every other piece of furniture.

You tried to recover by speaking more endearingly, although it hurt you. “It’s 3 in the morning. I wouldn’t want to force you out of your apartment at this time.”

“You wouldn’t be forcing me, Y/N. I’d love nothing more than to see you.”

You swore your heart was going to both melt and explode at the same time, but all you could say was, “Me too.”

The two of you remained in silence for a few seconds, before Matt spoke again. To your dismay, he sounded more serious. It caught you off guard.

“Y/N.”

“Hmm?”

“You know you can tell me anything. If there’s anything that’s bothering you, anything at all, you can tell me.”

A lump formed in your throat at the simple statement and you had to bite your lip to keep yourself from losing it.

A part of you wished that you could tell him everything. That you could just unpack everything, all of this baggage and get it over with. You hated it, you hated lying to him, but it was the only way to protect him…and yourself. There was no way of telling what he would think of you should he find out what you did. The thought scared the fuck out of you. What if he thought you were a criminal? A monster? What if he stopped loving you all together?

No, your heart would be able to take the blow of what came next. You couldn’t risk this beautiful thing that the two of you had, even if part of it was based on lies.

“I know,” you fought to keep your voice above a whisper, “Thank you, Matty.”

* * *

Matt hung up the phone and set it down on the Claire’s kitchen counter, where he had moved to stand by. He leaned with his hands against the surface, the pit in his heart had slowly turned into a large hole. He didn’t know what to think or how to feel. So many emotions were running through him and it was overwhelming.

“Well?” Claire asked from the living room.

With painful effort he said, “She’s lying.”

He heard the equivalent of Claire’s heart dropping.

He might not have been able to hear Y/N’s heart beat or the way her breathing changed, but he could tell that she wasn’t telling the truth all the same. She had been up late, and despite her excuse, he knew better than to believe it at this point. She sounded off, troubled, and normally if she had some kind of normal problem, she would tell him, but this time she didn’t. Instead, she fed him the same excuse, which was work. And when he offered to go see her, she immediately rejected it, and he had to admit…it hurt.

So, yes, she had been out that night, and Matt knew exactly what she had been doing.

Still, Matt didn’t know how to feel. Betrayed? Angry? She had been lying to him this entire time, but then again, so had he. He wasn’t exactly innocent in this situation either, he just never expected someone that he loved, someone that he cared about so deeply to do the same to him.

If Foggy was here, Matt knew what he would say.

_“Sucks doesn’t it?”_

“What are you gonna do?” Claire stood up from the couch, eyeing Matt with a scrutinizing gaze.

Matt gripped the edge of the counter until his knuckles turned white. There was only one thing he could do next, and it wasn’t to ignore it until morning. He couldn’t.

“Guess I have to pay the The Viper a visit.”

* * *

You couldn’t sleep, no matter how hard you tried. You were tired as all hell and you just couldn’t. Fucking. Sleep.

Usually Matt’s phone calls were enough to make your day, but this last one only added another problem to think about. You were still on edge about everything and your mind was running a million miles a minute.  You just couldn’t help but think that every second that went by was another second wasted. Those girls could be long gone by now and you would have no way of reaching them.

Would you be able to in the first place? Gregory Meyer had been your best bet in all of this, and you had gotten everything that you could out of him. There was no way you’d be able to find him again because he was either long gone or dead. A man in his trade was smart enough to disappear. Especially after not one, but two vigilantes threatened him.

You groaned, kicking the sheets off of your legs and swinging over the side in a sit up position. You were over this. Every ache was becoming more and more tender with every passing hour. You carded your fingers through your hair before standing up straight and padding out of the room. You barely spared a glance at the knives still stuck into the wall.

You’d put them away later.

You headed into the kitchen, not really bothering to turn on any of the lights except for the one that was hung over the counter. You were so used to the dark at this point, from both your night job and spending time at Matt’s, that you didn’t really mind it anymore. Which was ironic considering that your “real job” was spent in a classroom with flourescent lighting.

You proceeded to do the mundane actions of putting water into your water tea kettle and setting it to boil. Afterwards, you grabbed a mug from one of the cabinets and then rummaged through boxes of tea in another, finally settling on some chamomile to soothe the tension in your muscles. Or at least you hoped it would.

When the kettle boiled and sang that it was ready, you poured some boiling water into the mug. Already the tea bag released yellow-brown pigment from the dried flowers and you could smell the calming scent of chamomile. You tried to hard to distract yourself with this simple task, but the universe had other plans for you.

Maybe it was the night and maybe it was what kept your senses on high, but when a faint noise came from your bedroom, you instantly perked up, setting the kettle back down slowly. When a few moments passed and there was nothing else, you thought that maybe it was nothing, maybe the neighbors or the wind. You hovered over your tea, back turned to the rest of the apartment, staying aware of any sound.

And then you heard it. A creak of the floorboards. Something - someone was here.

Your heart reacted and quickened its pace, banging against your ribcage. A million questions raced through your mind in a second.

Someone was here in your house, but why? Was someone breaking in? Was it a burglar, the gang members who took the girls, or worse was it the ninjas? Had they found you? How?

You squeezed your eyes shut to steel yourself for a few seconds. When you opened them, your eyes found the block of knives that were diagonal from you and settled on the biggest one there. So, you did what you did best.

In an instant, you reached for it, grabbed it by the dull side of the blade, turned around, lifted your hand up, and flung it through the air with your momentum and a grunt. It went into the darkness, towards a dark figure you could barely make out.

Either you were off or they dodged it (you assumed the latter), because all you heard was the loud sound of it making contact with a wall, not a human being. They were a skilled fighter. You reached over to the block of knives and grabbed two more, but when you prepared yourself to throw them, a voice stopped you.

“I’m not here to hurt you, Y/N.”

You were taken aback by the usage of your name not to mention the softness of his voice, but not matter what they said, you were still pretty pissed off about them being in your apartment uninvited.

“How do you know my name? Show yourself,” you dared them, keeping a firm hold on the kitchen knives in your hands.

Without saying anything else or giving any form of protest, you heard movement and then, suddenly, the rest of the room was filled with warm yellow light. And there, in the middle of your living room, stood the last person you would expect or ever want to see in your home.

The same man you just fought side by side with earlier.

Your eyes widened and you raised a knife defensively, “YOU? What the fuck are you doing here? How do you know where I live? How do you know who I am?”

This was the last thing you needed.

“I know more than you think, Y/N.”

The way he said your name, it made you feel something but you just couldn’t place it. Not many people said your name that way. He took a step forward and you lifted the knife in a throwing stance, placing your left foot forward in doing so.

“Don’t you dare come any closer. Did you follow me here?”

“Put the knives down. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Then  _prove it_ ,” you barked.

You might have been allies earlier, but at the moment you only saw him as a threat. He was in your home, a place that you fought to keep protected from your night life. The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen knew who you were, knew your name, and now knew your face. Who knew what else he knew about you or even your family or anyone else you cared about. The thought made you livid.

He sighed in exasperation, but said nothing further. You weren’t sure what you were expecting him to do, but it wasn’t what happened next. He took a step back and with a bit of reluctance, reached up with both hands to the side of his helmet. Your lips parted in befuddlement as you realized what he was going to do.

With a soft tug, he pulled off the red headgear with horns, until it was completely gone, revealing his face.

A sharp gasp left your lips and you stumbled back into the counter of the kitchen, knocking over the mug full of tea and causing it to spill all over the place. You barely registered when the hot water splashed you. Your arms dropped, no longer in a fighting stance, and the knives fell out of your hands with a clatter to the wooden floor.

Nothing, and you mean  _nothing_ , could have prepared you for this.

How?  _How?_  It couldn’t be…and yet, it was.

Your voice came out a sharp whisper when you finally found the the will to speak.

“Matt?”


	10. The Liar & La Mentirosa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After discovering you identity, Matt decides to confront you about it before the night is over, which means that his identity will be revealed too. And it's here where the both of you finally realize that no one was who they said they were and start to question the reality of your relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And everything is let loose in this chapter. The part we have been waiting for is here!
> 
> Translations are at the end as per usual.

**Earlier that night…..**

Matt put his suit back on and headed out the door of Claire’s apartment.

“Matt, wait,” Claire said urgently before he could disappear. Matt stopped in his tracks, perking an ear up to listen to what she had to say.

“Is this really happening? You’re gonna go over there, to her apartment, dressed as the Daredevil and - what? - You’re going to confront her?”

“Something like that.”

“You know what this means right?”

“What does it mean Claire?” he asked, knowing very well what she was talking about.

“It means you have to tell her everything that you’ve been lying about too.”

“I know.”

“Are you ready for that?”

Matt opened his mouth to speak, thinking that he had the right answer for this question, but he didn’t. She was right. If this happened, all the cards would be laid out on the table, and there was no way to know how either of them would react. Y/N, especially.

“This isn’t something I can bring up over coffee, Claire. I just….can’t go on lying anymore…and I can’t continue the rest of my day knowing what I know and pretend like I don’t.”

This was enough to finally push Matt over the edge. It scared the shit out of him, especially since he had no fucking clue as to how this would end. Yes, you both had things to be guilty about, but it was him that had a lot more to unpack and to explain. It would result in either rejection or understanding. A reaction like Foggy or Claire. But now that you were also leading a double life, the situation might not be as bad….or it could be worse.

“I need to hear the truth from her.”

* * *

Matt arrived at your building, climbing up the fire escape to your window. On the way over, he had been hoping that you were still awake, since it would make things easier. At least a fraction. When he listened closely, he could detect your heartbeat and your breathing, but it came from further into the apartment. The kitchen.

He lifted the window open slowly, trying his best to not make any noise and made his way inside.

Instantly, he could smell traces of blood, rubbing alcohol, and hydrogen peroxide. It came from the bathroom, he could tell, and based on those things, you must have used them to tend to your wounds.

There was the regular furniture, a bed, nightstand, dresser, etc, but there were also objects that stood out to Matt. On the far wall were five metallic objects sticking out of it. Knives, by what he could tell.

_She must have been angry._

Matt took off his right glove and used it to run his fingers over everything. On the nightstand was a clock, your phone, and two objects he didn’t recognize until he picked them up. His eyebrows raised when he felt the two spikes that were distanced apart. The snake bites. He stuck his fingers through it and held it as you should, before putting it back down where it belonged.

Beyond your bedroom, he could hear the sound of water boiling and the strong flowery smell of chamomile. You were making tea, which meant you were still distracted. He returned his attention back to anything that stood out to him and he furrowed his brow.

There was something under the bed, he could sense it. He crouched down and reached under until he felt the wide object he was looking for. He grabbed onto it and slid it out, causing it to make a noise as it scraped against the floor. He bared his teeth in annoyance with himself and froze, cursing himself internally before perking an ear up to listen to you once again.

Your heartbeat had quickened. You must have heard him, but after a few seconds, you seemed to ignore it and continued on with what you were doing. Matt let out a breath and opened the box, which to his dismay, was much like his and held similar contents.

Leather, based on the smell.

He reached his hands in and ran his fingers over the material. He knew instantly what it was - your uniform.

This whole time. This whole time you were hiding all of this from him.

_You’re not exactly one to talk, Murdock._

Matt took a deep breath and stood up straight.

He had to do it.

He walked over and pulled the half open bedroom door wide open before stepping out into the small hallway and into the living room with quiet steps. Quiet steps, until his foot came down on a floorboard that creaked. You tensed immediately, your heart going a million miles a minute.

* * *

**Present…..**

Slack-jawed, you stared at him. Disbelieving, confused.

“This can’t be real,” you whispered.

This had to be a dream right? This couldn’t be real, right? You must have fallen asleep after all and now this was the nightmare your subconscious produced. Because there was no way that Matthew, your _blind_ boyfriend, could be  _him_.

Yet he was here, a distance in front of you, right before your eyes, dressed in what was the Daredevil uniform, the mask dangling from the fingers of one hand. You had just fought alongside him hours ago, and the suit was unmistakable. His face was marked with red and purple bruises in certain spots, you realized now that they weren’t because he fell down some stairs, but because he was out doing something far more dangerous.

He huffed an amused breath, “I’m afraid it’s real, Y/N.”

“How?” you looked at him in disbelief, searching for some indication that this was all a joke, but you knew it wasn’t. “Matt….you’re supposed to be blind!” You raised your voice on the last word.

Now, your mind was reeling. Was he even blind to begin with? Had he really been lying to you about everything this entire time? Not only was he the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, but he had sight too? What kind of sick and twisted-

“I know, I know, I’ll explain everything to you if you just-”

“Yes, please explain everything because I am about this close to losing it,” you said, as you felt the anger and betrayal start to fester in your chest. “Maybe you can start by telling me why the hell you broke into my apartment in the first place.”

He furrowed his brow, “You mean you haven’t guessed yet?”

You frowned. Your shock of his reveal had distracted you from even thinking of the possibilities for his strange visit. Maybe it was to reveal his secret to you, but based on his tone that didn’t seem to be it. Your heart dropped to your stomach at the one thing you feared the most.

Matt took your silence as an answer.

“I’m here because I know who you really are, Y/N.”

He stepped over to the counter in even strides and put down something you hadn’t even noticed was in his other hand. Your breath hitched at the sight of one half of your knuckle set, the snake bites. You realized that he must have taken it from your room where you had set it down on your nightstand. Who knows what else he found in there. Everything, probably.

So, he knew. He knew your secret, after fighting for so long to keep it from him. After hoping against hope that you never needed to tell him at all…he now knew. And it was under the craziest circumstances that you never thought possible.

For the moment, your attention was away from his blindness or lack thereof.

“How did you find out?” you asked, settling on the first question that came to mind.

“If I’m being completely honest with myself…I knew when you told me about Jasmine,” he said, “I tried to deny it, but then I figured it was too big of a coincidence to actually be one.”

You thought back to when he had pushed you out of the way of that van and to when you had confided in the Daredevil about the girl that you tried to save. Turns out that it was Matt all along. Funny, you had trusted him with the same thing twice.

“Why didn’t you say anything then?”

“Because I thought I was wrong? Or wanted to be wrong? Because I was in denial and if I was going to accuse you of something, I wanted to be sure.”

The rest of the night played in full speed and suddenly a realization hit you.

“Is that why you called me earlier? To be sure?”

After a pause he admitted, “Yeah.”

That hurt you a little more than you anticipated. He called you, not because he had insomnia or because he wanted to hear your voice, but because he just wanted to see if you were going to bullshit him.

“So you weren’t actually suffering from insomnia, were you?” you asked, a sense of betrayal festering in your chest.

He frowned, “No. I wasn’t. And you weren’t watching Netflix, were you?”

“No, I wasn’t,” you crossed your arms and took him in, the man you loved.

You were mad at yourself for not finding out about his true identity sooner. You should have seen the signs, but how were you supposed to know that the man you loved, the man who you thought was visually impaired for years, was doing the things he did.

You might have lied too, but it still hurt like hell. You looked at Matt, but it was different this time. You weren’t looking at him like you always did, with love and trust. You were looking at him like he was a total stranger. You were strangers that were meeting for the first time and it was your worst nightmare times too .

Tears stung in your eyes and you tried your hardest to fight them back.

“To think that I felt like shit about lying, when you were lying too.”

“Trust me, you’re not the only one who feels that way,” he said.

“This whole time,” you said in a sharp whisper. “I thought we were doing so well. I thought we were perfect for each other. Matt you were supposed to be-”

“Perfect?” finished Matt for you.

You snapped your head up to meet his gaze. The silence spoke for you.

Matt looked down, smiling sadly. “Pretty ironic thing to say to a blind person, but thank you for thinking I’m perfect… well, was.”

To say that you were confused and hurt was a big understatement. You had a hard time believing anything at this point.

“No, not perfect, Matt,” you said after a beat, “But you were supposed to be….someone I could trust.”

“We wouldn’t be having this conversation if you trusted me to begin with. Would we?” He jabbed at you with his words. “You’re not exactly who I thought you were either, Y/N.”

It was like one of your own knives had sunk into your chest.

“Neither of us is innocent in this,” he continued, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it.”

“Okay, then let’s talk about the elephant in the room,” you said, trying to stand taller and regain a semblance of pride for this next part.

“And what would that be?”

You scoffed.

“I’m talking about the fact that you’re not actually blind, Matthew!” You refused to believe that he was blind. There was no way a blind person can move the way Daredevil moves.  _No. Fucking. Way._

But then… His eyes were always looking somewhere else, like your lips or just a bit to the side.

You shook your head. No, he must have been acting. A con artist. Must be. This was an act. Nothing else could be possible.

Matt sighed and closed his eyes, licking his lip in the process, like he knew this was coming, but was just avoiding it.

“Y/N.”

“Que, Mateo?” you growled out each word, now getting angrier with every passing second.

Matt was the last person you ever thought to betray you…do something like this to you…  _manipulate_ you.  And yet he did. He lied to you, deceived you. Why?  _Why?_

Tears cascaded down your face and you wiped them away with the back of your hand, accidentally hurting your stitches. You winced.

“Escuchame, mi amor, por favor.”

He took a step towards you, an instinctive act to comfort you, but you took a step back.

It was the first time since he got here that he called you by anything but your first name, and part of you couldn’t help but feel like he was just using it to soften whatever blow was going to come next.

“Don’t call me that, not right now.”

He huffed breath and put down his mask on the breakfast table. You could tell that he was trying to recover from your rejection. Before tonight, you never would have treated him like this, but now things were different. 

You couldn’t help it even if you could. This was how you got when you were angry, this was how you got when you were in Viper mode. And right now, you needed to be in that mode to deal with what you were really feeling.

What possible excuse could he have for this? What excusable statement could he say to you right now that could make you understand?

He gripped the edge of the kitchen counter across from you.

“I’m still blind, Y/N.”

You rolled your eyes. “Am I really supposed to believe that? After everything I’ve seen you do? A visually impaired person can’t even do half of the shit you do, Matt!”

“I know that.”

“And to think I believed you when you gave me those stupid excuses for your bruises, blaming them on running into things. Como una pendeja te crei because I trusted you and I didn’t think you had a reason to lie to me about something like that.”

“I know, but all I wanted to do was protect you, Y/N. I had to tell you something, anything so that you wouldn’t find out the truth, because I was trying to avoid something like this.”

“You should understand that better than anyone,” he finished.

Sadly, you did.

“Please, stop looking at me like that.”

You furrowed your eyes at him. You were supposed to believe he was blind when he said things like that?

“Like what?”

“Like…like one of those men you beat up. I can sense it. It’s different from how you used to look at me.”

“Sense it? What does that even-?” you struggled to finish the question, thoroughly confused. You tried to ground yourself, to focus on the subject at hand. “Just…explain it to me. Explain, how I’m supposed to believe you. Because this? This shit - out of everything else that you’re lying about? -  is all other levels of fucked up, so excuse me for not feeling sorry about what I do.”

“I’m not lying!”

He shoved himself away from the counter in irritation, and dropped down onto one of the chairs at the breakfast table. He rested his elbows on his knees. You could see the exhaustion  in his body. The both of you had been through a lot these past few hours, and none of this made it any easier.

“I know you’re hurt, but just….listen to me, please,” he practically pleaded. You swore his eyes were rimmed red with possible tears.

You took a deep breath to calm yourself, although you couldn’t shake that feeling of distrust. But you had to listen to him. You had to hear what he had to say, you needed to know. You took a step over to the table before thinking twice and taking a knife from the block. He took a step back as you proceeded to slide a chair out.

“I’m not going to stab you with it,” you said as you plopped down on the chair and set the blade onto the table. “Not unless I have to.”

You swore you saw a trace of a smirk when you looked at him. He took the seat across from you, a sound of relief coming from him. He was probably just as tired as you.

“I’m still me, sweetheart.”

The pet name made your heart flutter while the phrase within itself made it constrict. Because it was once a sentence you planned on telling him should the moment arise when he would find out about you. Never did you think you’d be hearing it from him instead.

You crossed your arms and legs, reclining back into the seat.

“Talk.”

He sighed. You had never seen the Daredevil so vulnerable. You never thought you’d see him like this. Then again, you never thought he’d turn out to be your boyfriend.

“You know that accident that made me go blind?”

You furrowed your brow and crossed your arms, skeptical about the story now, but you still listened.

“Yeah.”

“And how there were chemicals on that truck that spilled into my eyes?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it turns out they did a whole lot more than make me go blind.”

“What do you mean?”

“They…enhanced my other senses.”

“Doesn’t that usually happen with blind people? They lose one sense so their body compensates with another?”

“Yes, except with me it was different. Take that, but turn it all the way to 100. I can hear, smell, feel, taste, everything 100 times more than any normal person can. I can feel balance, changes in direction, air density, temperature. I can smell the peroxide you used to clean up your face, the conditioner you used to shower earlier and the nicotine from the guy smoking outside. I can hear your neighbors two floors down, arguing about bills they have to pay. Or music from down the street. I can hear….your heartbeat….and how it changes depending on how you’re feeling. Like right now…”

He paused as if he was listening in and you watched him with wide eyes.

“You’re angry, confused, heartbroken.”

You stared at him, his bruised up face set in a small frown. You resisted the urge to reach out and touch him, to wrap your arms around his shoulders.

“How do I know you’re not lying to me? How do I know you’re not bullshitting or that you can’t tell any of that that just by looking at my face?”

He opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it. Instead he licked his lips, a pensive look overtaking his features. You stared at him, eye narrowed, wondering what the hell he was going to say next. Just when you thought he wasn’t going to respond at all, he said:

“Your phone has a flashlight, right?”

You gave him a weird look. “Yeah…why?”

He motioned with his head towards your room. “Go grab it.”

You eyed him curiously before getting up and heading over to your room, making sure to take the knife with you. Not that you thought you needed it, but you took it as a precaution, it made you feel better. You quickly came back and sat back down on the chair, phone in your other hand.

You turned on the flashlight.

“Now, you’re going to shine it into my eyes. Like a doctor would.”

You hesitated, looking at him like he was crazy.

“You can’t damage what’s already broken, Y/N,” he said with small smile, and you wanted to shoot him a glare.

Without another second wasted, you reach over the table to get closer to him. With your face just inches away from him, it took a lot in you not to stare. To gaze too long at his hazel green eyes or the stubble on his jaw that you liked so much or the pink lips you often died to kiss. Pink lips that quirked up in a smile just then.

Instead you focused on the task at hand.

You let yourself touch his chin, if only to steady him, lifted the phone, and shined the light into his eyes. You went back and forth between his eyes, the color in them washed out by the harsh white light. And it was after a few seconds that it dawned on you that something was off.

_His pupils aren’t reacting to the light._

Shock was all you felt.

_Oh my god. He really is blind._

You turned off the flashlight and set your phone down, staring at him in bewilderment as you plopped back down into your seat.

“Oh my god.”

“I’d never lie to you about something like this,” he said.

So he hadn’t been lying to you. Not about this. Suddenly you weren’t angry anymore, at least not as incredulous as you were before. Because this wasn’t some fucked up con. This - the craziest thing out of all the crazy things - was not a lie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Que, Mateo?” = “What, Matthew?”
> 
> “Escuchame, mi amor, por favor.” = “Listen to me, my love, please.”
> 
> “Como una pendeja te crei.” = “Like a dumbass I believed you.”


	11. It Was You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After admitting everything to each other, and the anger dissipates, you and Matt realize that you're more perfect for each other than you thought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took forever to update, but I took a short writing hiatus, cleared my mind and now it's here!!

You stared at your boyfriend, still processing this megaton of information.

Somehow, Matt was able to do the things he did, while not being able to see with his eyes. And you weren’t just thinking about the normal everyday things, you were thinking about the stuff he did at night. 

He had been the Daredevil for much longer than you had been the Viper and he was much more experienced in fighting than you were, so this was not new to him by any means.

To put it simply, you were in shock.

So that’s why it often felt like he could read your mind. He could tell if you were feeling sad or angry, even if you didn’t say anything. He was also able to tell how many men were at the motel without having to take a second guess. Not to mention fight them off with ease. He could sense people’s every move, which was how he dodged hits, and your knife.

It was the most intriguing and confusing thing to think about.

“So, it was you at the motel,” you finally said after a while.

He nodded. “Yeah. Your sources were my sources,” he smirked.

“Karen.”

“Yeah. That’s why we were there at the same time.”

You shook your head, primarily at yourself. “I don’t know why it didn’t cross my mind that it could have been you.”

He huffed an amused breathe through his nose, “Like you said, you didn’t think a blind person could do half the things I do.”

“But still, the cuts and bruises….the weird excuses….and then earlier I swore I recognized your voice.”

He rested an arm on the table, casually, and it was then that you noticed the hole in the sleeve of his suit. You realized, it was exactly where a bullet had lodged itself earlier, except now it was bandaged up. By who you weren’t sure.

When you saw it happen in front of you, you saw it as the Daredevil getting injured. Nothing major. He had gotten up and continued on like it was nothing. But, now you saw it as Matt, your boyfriend, getting hurt. The memory was now dizzying when you thought about it. You reached over and brushed your fingers around the edge of the torn fabric, but making sure not to touch the wound.

He could’ve died.

“Oh shit.”

He put his hand over yours and the feel of his touch felt so nice.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’ve suffered worse. In the grand scheme of things, it’s just a scratch, really.”

You hummed in worried amusement. “Part of me wants to scold you to be more careful, but I’m pretty much the last person that should be saying that.”

He chuckled. It was such a lovely, normal sound. Familiar. And it seemed to clear the air of it’s tensity.

“Oh how the tables have turned.”

“For us both,” you added.

Now, it was his turn to brush his fingers over the bandage on your right cheek. It stung, only a little though, and you didn’t care.

“Just a scratch,” you mused.

“But harder to hide.”

“I’ll just take from excuses from the Matt Murdock handbook and call it a day.”

You both laughed this time.

“Funny,” he said sarcastically.

You took his hand away from your face and held it in yours. There were bruises there, bruises that matched yours, and in a weird way it made you smile.

You remembered that first encounter with the men in black, where you fought side by side with the Daredevil. Back then he was a man of mystery all dressed in red. He was a figure you admired, and the reason you even started doing this in the first place. But never, never did you think that you’d find out who he was. Let alone have him secretly be the man you love.

It felt good though, to have someone that understood you in more ways than one. You weren’t alone in this crazy journey.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” you whispered. You were very prideful, so it was a little out of character for you to apologize first, but, “I mean it. I didn’t do it to hurt you, I was just…scared.”

Of him getting hurt because of you and of what he might think.

Another thing you didn’t like to admit. But hey, you were laying all your cards out right? Might as well.

“I know. I get it. I lied too, and I’m sorry. But I can hope that at least you can understand why I did it.”

You nodded, “More than you know.”

He had you, Foggy, and Karen to protect, and before all of this it was him and your family. Hell, even if he was the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, you’d still do anything to keep him alive.

“And I’m sorry that I yelled at you,” you said, “I was angry, and-”

“Darling, it’s okay. It’s a lot to process,” he said, “But if it’s any consolation, you’re already taking it way better than Foggy ever will.”

You were taken aback. “Foggy knows?”

“Yeah, and not because I wanted him to know. He found me bleeding out on the floor of my apartment with my mask on. I survived, but our friendship almost didn’t.”

“I’m guessing he doesn’t agree with all of this?”

“Not in the slightest. He believes in the law and the system. There isn’t a day that goes by where he isn’t trying to convince me to live a normal, less dangerous life. In fact, he always thought that you were supposed to be my gateway into said normal life. Like a savior of some sorts. Seems like the universe had other plans, though.”

You huffed a laugh, “He’s gonna be pissed if he finds out”

“‘If’ is a very good word, because that is the last thing I need to deal with right now.”

“Well if he does find out, I’ll take care of him.”

“By ‘take care of him’, do you mean…?”

“I mean tell him to back off, not stab him, Matthew. Por dios.”

“Just needed to be sure,” he grinned.

“Right.”

When you quieted down, you decided to ask him a question that was on your mind.

“Are you disappointed that I’m not as ‘normal’ as you thought I was?”

You asked it in a joking tone, but internally you were genuinely wondering. This was one of your worst fears after all. You had been scared that he wouldn’t love you anymore if he found out who you were, but now that the circumstances were different, you needed to be sure.

He frowned a little bit, and the way he furrowed his brows would almost make you smile if you weren’t waiting for the answer in anticipation.

“Absolutely not,” he said, shaking his head. “If anything, I think I’m relieved.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, sure I was angry at first and terrified of how this would end. But now that I know - or at least I think I know - that things will be okay….For once in my life I don’t feel entirely alone.”

Your vision swam with tears and try as you may to fight them back, they wouldn’t stop. You sniffled and Matt looked worried, but you waved it off.

“I’m fine, I just…..I feel the same way too.”

And it felt good to hear what you felt coming from him.  

“You wanna hear something funny?” he asked suddenly.

You quirked an eyebrow. “What?”

“While we were out there, fighting those guys at the motel…..all I could think about was how much I’d rather be with you,” he said, “Turns out you were right there the whole time.”

Could he hear the way your heart fluttered when he said that? At this point, you were sure he could, based on the small smirk on his lips.

“That is funny. Especially since I was thinking about you too.”

Now, you wished you could hear his heart. Was it beating the same was as yours?

He took his hand out of yours and rested it against your neck, where your collar was exposed, and ran his thumb over it. The feeling of his calloused fingers against your skin made you shiver. You might not have had Matt’s abilities, but you swore you could feel the air shift, almost magnetically.

As if in sync, you both crashed your lips against each other’s in a passionate kiss.

The way this night began, you were sure it would only get worse, that this would be the end of the two of you, but instead, you’ve managed to come full circle. If anything, this whole thing made you stronger than before.

And maybe it sounded crazy, but you could feel it in the way you kissed each other. It was different than every other time you had done it before. Like you were seeing - feeling -  each other for the first time, and you were still so in love, if not more in love than ever before. It was two people, exposing their dark side and accepting it, loving it despite it all. Despite lies.

The lies were only to protect each other, after all.

Barely disconnecting from him, you rose from your seat, and he followed, both of your chairs scraping the wood floor.  The knife you had clattered to the floor. And once you were standing, you closed any distance between the two of you.

His hands moved up and down your body. And whenever he’d touch bare skin, your breath would hitch. For a moment you were lost in each other, but then you stopped, just for a moment after struggling with the thick fabric of his suit.

“Let’s get you out of this thing.”

He chuckled darkly, and went about helping you tug off the red armor. Each piece left a trail as the pair of you made your way to the bedroom. He winced a little when you pulled the sleeve off of his wounded arm, but he told you to keep going. You crashed against a wall, knocking down a picture frame only to ignore it.

Once he was down to his underwear, he took the lead and back you up against the dresser, knocking down a few of your things in the process. You giggled breathlessly, even though your bruised ribs sang in pain.

Matt paused for a moment. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m fine,” you urged him, pulling him back for a deep kiss. You were both so animalistic, not wanting to hold back on anything anymore.

As he held you there with your legs wrapped around him, you tugged off your shirt with a half moan half pained groan, freeing your breasts. You grinded into him, and Matt moaned into your mouth, which only aroused you even more.

He spun around and carried you to the bed, lowering you down to the mattress. You both hastily took off your underwear before he lowered himself down over you. You noticed some of the scars on his chest and gave them each a kiss. You would’ve made your way to the one on his abdomen, but you were too eager to feel him inside you.

When he finally, slowly thrust into you, it was ecstasy. His head fell into the crook of your neck for a brief pause, just so you could adjust yourselves to each other. But then he started to move in and out, and you rose your hips to meet his. Your bodies seemed to fit so perfectly together, like you were made for one another. 

The air was so hot with your heavy breathing, and every now and then you could tell his body ached as did yours, but it didn’t stop him once, or you. He was always kissing or licking your mouth, neck, and collarbone. The bed creaked and moved with the movement, especially when Matt held on to the headboard to better steady himself.

And just before you knew it, you both climaxed before collapsing into each other’s arms.

* * *

When the sun rose and morning came, for the first time in forever, you didn’t care that you barely got any sleep.

Now that there was light shining through the window, you could see just how much of a mess the room was. Your knives were still on the wall, except one of them had fallen off, no doubt when you and Matt were crashing about the room. The door was open and through it you could see the trail of Matt’s Daredevil suit, followed by your own clothes. Some bottles of makeup and perfume were knocked over on your dresser.

The sight only made you want to laugh. You didn’t know how the night was going to turn out, but it definitely wasn’t like this. Not that you were complaining.

You sat up with your legs crossed, part of the sheet wrapped around you as you looked down at Matt and he looked up at you with a smile like a lovesick puppy.

“You know, I’m pretty sure my very Catholic mother would die if she knew I slept with the Devil.”

He laughed, “If my memory serves me right, then I’m pretty sure the serpent and the devil were one and the same, Ms. Viper.”

“Touche, my little Catholic boy,” you said, poking his chin. “So, I guess that makes us both the Devil.”

You mother adores him, which makes you wonder what she’d do or say if she knew the truth. 

He’d probably still be her favorite.

“It does. One more reason why we’re made for each other,” he said.

You bit your lip to hide the cheesy grin on your face.

“You really think that?”

He rested his hand on your thigh and gave it a light squeeze. “After everything that I’ve been through and everything that’s happened in the last 16 hours…I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

You leaned down and kissed him softly. Before sitting back up, you said, “Te amo.”

“Te amo,” he repeated.

At the corner of your eye you caught a glimpse of the scars and bruises marking his body. This was the first time you had seen them all this close up. Back when you thought he was just a lawyer, he’d tell you they were scars from the accident that made him blind. But that was when you’d catch a glimpse of one, maybe two. Never did you think he had  _this_  many.

There were three major ones, about five inches long and one minor one, on his chest alone. You reach out and brushed your fingers over one that was under his left collarbone, which was the smallest, and looked the freshest.

“That was the one I got when we were on the roof together. The first time the Viper and the Devil met,” he said without you having to ask.

“Oh yeah. The fucking ninjas.”

He snorted, “Members of The Hand, actually. But I will remember to refer to them as ‘the fucking ninjas’ from now on.”

You shook your head and continued to the next one that was one of the bigger ones, on his shoulder.

“Russian mafia. They kidnapped a kid for a human trafficking ring they had taken over from the Italians. Kicked my ass pretty good. Ended up in a dumpster. Got patched up. Found the Russians, found the kid, took them down.”

That sounded familiar.

“What about the other two?” you said referring to larger ones on his chest.

He seemed to wince at the memory.

“A man named Nobu,” he sighed, “He was also a member of the Hand and worked with Fisk. He was the one who gave me this one.”

He moved the sheet covering his lower half and pointed to a large, pink scar on this lower right side. It was thicker and bigger than the rest. You touched it carefully and frowned. A scar like that couldn’t have come from a wound that was easy to survive.

“Damn near killed me. If Foggy hadn’t found me, I’d probably be dead.”

Your head snapped up in surprise. “So that was when Foggy found out?”

“Yeah. Not how I would’ve preferred to tell him, but…..” he trailed off, before getting back on track, “Most of the major scars are courtesy of The Hand. Those assholes are the hardest to beat.”

You nodded, remembering how brutal that first fight with the ninjas was. They were too skilled, even for Matt.

“No kidding.”

Wanting to open up just as much as he did, you took his hand and placed it over the scar that was on your right shoulder. He felt it with his fingers like he was reading braille.

“From that night on the roof. One of them threw a star at me. Hurt like a bitch.”

He nodded, “I remember that.”

You guided him to a scar on your left thigh, one you had acquired a while back.

“Group of men were beating the shit out of this guy for being gay. One of them had a gun. Lucky for me, he was a cheap shot. Unlucky for him, I was better with a knife. Still managed to get hit, but the kid survived.”

There were other smaller ones with their own stories, ones that would eventually fade. Matt had those too. The scars themselves were nothing in the grand scheme of things. 

Then there was the one on your face, which he knew about.

The bandage had started to peel off from all the movement and sweat, so you ended up just taking it off. The skin around it was flaky with blood, not a pretty sight, but luckily for you Matt didn’t care. He couldn’t see it, and even if he could, you knew he wouldn’t mind.

“You still haven’t told me where you learned how to fight,” he blurted out.

You sighed and decided to lay down and cuddle into his chest before going into your life story. He pulled you in close and traced shapes on your arm.

“My brothers used to take karate as kids, and since my parents didn’t approve of a girl doing it, my brothers taught me in secret. When I was older and made my own money, I started taking Karate on my own and then later on, Krav Maga. It wasn’t until recently that I started taking Wing Chun.”

“Is that why you’ve been sore these past couple of weeks?”

“Yup.”

“That makes sense,” he said. “And the knives?”

“My brothers taught me the basics and I caught on quick. My teachers said I was a natural.”

“They were right.”

You craned your head up to smile at him.

He went on, “I’ve only fought alongside you twice, but I could tell pretty quickly that you can handle yourself just fine.”

“You’re damn right I can.”

You botch chuckled.

“Thank you,” you said in seriousness. “What about you? How did a blind boy with enhanced senses learn how to fight?”

“He…learned from another blind guy, named Stick.”

You perked your head up and scanned his face for any signs of sarcasm.

“A blind guy named Stick taught you how to fight? You’re kidding.”

“I’m not. I’m being serious.”

When he didn’t smirk or burst out laughing, you realized he was telling the truth.

“Well, now I’m intrigued.”

He smiled, “Well, it’s a long story-”

He was interrupted by the sound of an automated voice coming from his phone. It was repeating the name, “Foggy,” over and over.

“Shit,” Matt hissed as he sat up slowly. “I have to take this or he’ll think I’m dead in an alley somewhere.”

He kissed your forehead and said, “One day I’ll tell you about Stick, but I don’t think that’ll be today.”

“Okay. Tell Foggy I say ‘Hi’.”

You frowned as he got out of bed and answered the phone with his deep voice. “Hey, Fog.”

You didn’t get to hear the rest of what he was going to say, because your own phone started to ring. But it wasn’t a phone call, it was your alarm to start getting ready for work.

_Mierda._

“I’m actually with Y/N right now,” you vaguely heard him say. “She says, ‘Hi’.”

So much had happened in the past 16 hours, and going to work had barely crossed your mind in that time. Your night job had completely taken over your brain, not to mention the revelations between you and Matt. And the sex.

“Actually…I did tell her. Yup. Last night.”

You had to call in sick. There was no way you could go into work today. Not because you weren’t capable of doing the work, you just couldn’t face Luis. Not with the failure of last night. Not when his sister was still missing, probably being sold into trafficking as you sit here.

“I mean, she was angry at first, but in the end I think she took it pretty well.”

Not really processing that he was talking about you, you threw your phone onto the bed and put your hands on either side of your head.

“Fuck. What am I gonna do?” you whispered sharply, a lump forming in your throat. Also, forgetting that your super powered boyfriend could hear it very clearly from the other side of the room.

With the phone still at his ear, he turned towards you, his face set with worry.

“Foggy, do you mind if I call you back? It’s important. I promise I’ll call you.”

After a second, he hung up the phone, his gaze never leaving you.

“What’s wrong? What was that?” he motioned to the phone.

“My alarm for work, but that’s not what’s wrong.”

He walked over to you and sat at the edge of the bed.

“Then, what is it?”

You looked up at him, blinking back tears. “The Russians. They still have Jasmine, and all those other girls.”

“We’ll find them, Y/N.”

He put his hand over yours, but you were too overcome with anger to be affectionate right now. You hopped out of bed, and started pulling out clothes from the dresser and putting them on angrily.

“We will,” he enunciated.

“How do you know? Like you said before, we don’t have a lead,” you gestured dramatically with your hands.

Now that you were in a tank top and leggings, you went about busying yourself with the wall of knives you promised you’d clean up. If only to put your anger somewhere other than Matt. He stood up and hovered closely behind you, arms crossed as you pulled the pieces of sharpened metal out angrily one by one.

1…

“Not yet, but we will. We have Karen.”

2….

“Matthew, Karen’s a journalist, not the CIA. She can only do so much, especially when we can’t tell her what we’re doing.”

3….

“Karen might not be CIA but she’s the best at what she does.”

“Maybe. But they could be on a boat halfway to Europe by now.” You pulled out the last one, four, and finally looked at Matt in hopelessness. “It could be too late.”

“I actually don’t think so.”

You set the knives down on your dresser and leaned against it for support.

“Y por que?” you shrugged in exasperation.

He explained it as calmly as he could without pissing you off even more, “Because we just took down one of their cells. Not to mention the police and the FBI are involved, so they’ll be out looking for them as we speak. Although I doubt they’ll find them, since they know making any big movements would be stupid.”

You stood up straighter, your anger dissipating. “So, they’ll be hiding.”

“Exactly.”

“Right here? In Hell’s Kitchen?”

“Nothing like hiding in plain sight.”

You pushed yourself away from the dresser and stepped closer to Matt.

“And you think they’ll have the girls with them too?” You were hopeful now.

“Most likely. Or they’d at least keep them close by.”

“So if we find them….”

“We find Jasmine.”

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
> Panaderia de Reyes = King’s Bakery
> 
> “Tus abogados estan aqui” = “Your lawyers are here.”
> 
> “Que gusto verlos otra vez!” = “What joy to see you all again!”
> 
> “Como estan?” = “How are you?”
> 
> “Estamos muy bien, y ustedes?” = “We’re very good, what about you guys?”
> 
> “Esta guapo, no?” = “He’s handsome, no?”
> 
> “Quien?” = “Who?”


End file.
